Heroes and Legacies Book 5: Under the Influence
by pegasusdmac
Summary: A summer of hard work and constant training at Camp Half-Blood turns helter-skelter when a simple spell goes terribly wrong. Can the botched spell be reversed before its manic effects become permanent?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This book will be a little different from the other books in the series, so we'll see how it goes...**

1. A New Summer

_Ahhh_, Camp Half-Blood. A place of friendship and camaraderie, a place where great memories were made, where fun was to be had at every turn, a place I longed for nine months of the year…

Yeah, well, let me tell you what camp wasn't this summer: _any_ of the above. Training had become intense, rigorous, and constant. We trained ten hours a day, six days a week, preparing for the war the Rebellion had promised. I do believe military boot camp or prison would've been a better option than Camp Half-Blood this summer…and I was to blame. I was the one to implement the new training schedule.

This was my first summer in-charge at camp, and I found I had a lot to learn about being a leader. It wasn't all "_Yes, sir. Whatever you say, sir._" It was more like "_Who in Hades do you think you are? You're not the boss of me. Piss off._"

Chiron told me it would be a tough row to hoe, and it would take time to earn the respect of the campers. He was right. I was the child of prophecy, sure, but I still had to prove to them that I had what it took to be their leader. Being a mortal legacy instead of a demigod didn't help my campaign much, but being invincible gave me a boost in that aspect. Having the curse of Achilles—whose namesake was one of the greatest warriors in Greek history—gained me a few points with the populous. And so did the cool new toys I introduced to the camp.

Over spring break, Noah and I took a road trip down to Miami to spend the week with Lexie and her mom. The _official_ reason for the trip was to get a hands-on crash-course in modern weaponry from Thalia and the bounty hunters, but honestly, I just wanted to see Lexie and spend spring break with my two best friends. I hadn't seen them in a while, and I missed them both.

Lexie and I kissed on Christmas, and I thought we might get together as a couple, but it didn't work out that way. It was through no fault of our own; it was just bad timing for us to wander into relationship territory. She was considering joining the Hunters of Artemis at the time, and it would've been unfair to make her choose between me and immortality.

She'd been struggling with the decision she had to make about the Hunt, and Artemis was growing impatient. The goddess gave Lexie until her seventeenth birthday, May 26, to make her decision. After that, the offer was off the table. As of spring break, she was still undecided. Lexie had always been decisive and wasn't afraid to make tough choices, but this decision was a life-altering one, one she'd never be able to take back. I could understand why she was taking her time to consider her fate.

She and I had become closer over the months since Christmas, though. We began talking several times a week either via phone or IM, and the conversations let us get to know each other better outside the context of the life of a hero. I learned things about her I never knew before. She wanted to compete in archery in the Olympics, the smell of lavender that was her constant companion came from the special herbal shampoo that her aunt Calypso made for her, she was training to run a marathon for addiction rehabilitation in San Francisco in honor of her uncle Jason, and she thought blue SweeTarts tasted like soap, but she liked them anyway. It was little personal things like that, which made me feel even closer to her and made our friendship stronger and deeper.

The trip to Miami to acquire the skills and tools we'd need to defend ourselves against the Rebellion was a success. In five days, Noah, Lexie, and I had become experts (well, maybe not experts, but proficient) in modern weaponry: handguns, shotguns and rifles, tasers, tear gas and smoke grenades, and a number of other weapons. We were trained in the use of handcuffs and zip-ties for the apprehension of prisoners of war. We also familiarized ourselves with the new gear we'd be trading our bronze armor for: bulletproof vests, combat headgear, tactical belts, and holsters. We'd be training the campers in this new form of combat this summer, so we had to know everything.

The bounty hunters agreed to send a little of everything to camp, so the Hephaestus kids could get to work in the forges and arm the entire camp. We were shown how bullets could be modified to be harmless for training purposes. Paint bullets were best for training, and rubber bullets were a good option for shooting to incapacitate, not kill. I really liked that idea.

All in all, it was a good trip to Miami. We were able to get in a couple of trips to the beach between training sessions, the bounty hunters hosted cookouts at their warehouse every evening, and I even got a goodbye kiss from Lexie. That alone was worth the long drive down there.

I didn't talk to her much after spring break. We were both busy wrapping up year-end school projects, studying for finals, and I was playing baseball and prepping for the SAT exam. The last time we spoke was on May 21, and on my drive to camp ten days later, I had a fear in my heart that she wouldn't be there, that she'd chosen the Hunt.

I'd just arrived at camp and was getting my things squared away in my cabin when I noticed someone standing in the open doorway, leaning against the frame. To my great relief and elation, it was Lexie.

"Happy late Birthday," I said to her. "I tried to call you on the day, but I couldn't get you."

"I got your voicemail," she said. "That was a busy day for me. I had to break the news to Artemis and Mom that I wouldn't be joining the Hunt."

I wanted to jump up and down and clap my hands like a fool when she said she didn't join the Hunt, but I gave myself a mental slap and played it cool. "I wish you would've broken the news to me before today," I said as I walked up and leaned against the frame opposite of her. "Not knowing has been driving me crazy, you know?"

She smirked. "I know. I wanted to make you sweat a little."

"Why do you love torturing me?"

She smiled and shrugged. "It's fun."

After the relief of seeing Lexie, I was met with an equal amount of dread. I was informed we had several new campers this summer, which wasn't a bad thing, but come to find out, one of the new campers was a Stoll. We already had one too many Stolls here to begin with. Our Oracle, Morgan Stoll, was a handful on her own, but now her wild-eyed younger brother, Marcus, was here, too. If my head could ache, I do believe I would've had a migraine.

Marcus was twelve, which was about the average age for a new camper, and being an empowered legacy—a grandson of Hermes and Demeter—I guess his scent was beginning to get a little stout. I'd never met Marcus, but unfortunately, I knew his older sister well, and his little brother, Miles, once knocked me on my ass. And he was only two years old at the time. It was wholly embarrassing. I guess I'd have to wait and see how much trouble the middle Stoll would be.

Turns out, I didn't have to wait long. The little punk set off a stink bomb in my cabin on his third day at camp. I had to sleep on my cabin's porch swing for two nights while my cabin aired out. Morgan was so proud of her little brother for that bold move. I got my revenge, though. I ensured that the training schedules placed him under Russ's instruction. Russ was the toughest child of Ares at camp, and he was a hardass who wouldn't tolerate pranks. That was a nightmare for any descendent of Hermes. The twerp was gonna learn not to mess with the boss.

The weirdest thing by far this summer was the overwhelming support I'd gotten from the Ares cabin. Yeah, that's right, the Ares cabin. With the exception of Russ (who still hated me, because he thought I had something to do with his and Lexie's break-up), the Ares kids had gone out of their way to assist me in developing the new training regimens we put in place at camp this summer. We were preparing for war, and war was their specialty, so maybe it wasn't so strange that they'd stepped up and become my most insightful advisors, in spite of their superiority complexes that made them a pain in the ass to deal with at times.

They—in coordination with camp's trainer, Jason Grace, and the Athena cabin—set up battle tactics workshops, weapons training sessions, and command seminars. They organized games of capture the flag, which they modified to more accurately simulate a battlefield. We used firearms loaded with paint rounds instead of swords and spears in the games, and instead of capturing the flag, we captured the commander of the opposing team and forced a surrender. I also insisted that taking prisoners alive be the tactic in the games, rather than killing the enemy, because my conscience still struggled with the idea of killing human beings.

And I wasn't the only one with that hesitation. The Ares kids didn't seem to be bothered by the notion of killing people, but many other campers from an assortment of cabins were. So, after a vote, camp decided to take a kill-as-a-last-resort approach to war. In a private meeting with a few Ares and Athena kids, I was informed that this approach was impractical, that once the fighting started, that approach would be long forgotten and the instinct to survive would take over. Maybe so, but I didn't want to go into the fight with the intention of killing a bunch of mortals, so I let the vote stand. How things would actually play out on the battlefield was yet to be seen.

Camp counselors and older, more experienced campers became instructors and trainers, because with the increased training time, Chiron and Jason couldn't handle the load by themselves. Every camper and trainer got one day a week off, though, and those days rotated for everyone.

A couple of weeks into summer, Noah's and my day off fell on the same day, so we chilled together. We'd been hanging out nearly every weekend since our trip to Miami, because not long after we got back, he learned his mother was dead.

While we were in Memphis during the quest to New Orleans last Christmas, we made a few calls to see if his mother was living there, since they'd lived there before. We didn't find her, but that little bit of hope made Noah want to start looking for her.

Unfortunately, the investigators Rachel hired couldn't find Noah's mom, so Noah finally asked Nico to look into it and he discovered she was dead. She'd been dead for three years.

I'd been spending time with my best friend to help him cope, give him support, and take his mind off it. Today we shot some hoops on the basketball court for a while then went to the lake where we dove in to cool off and harass the naiads a little. After our swim, we kicked back on the dock and relaxed.

"So," Noah began. "Since Lexie didn't join the Hunt, are you finally going to tell her how you feel about her?"

"I don't know, man," I said. "It's been so crazy around here that I haven't found the right time to tell her. And if I do tell her, it'll change everything. Once I say it, I can't take it back."

He gave me a sideways look and asked, "Why would you want to take it back?"

"What if she doesn't feel the same way?"

He blinked. "You're kidding me, right? Dude, she gave up immortality for you."

I shook my head in disbelief. "She didn't do that for me."

"What other reason could she possibly have for not joining the Hunt?"

"You really think..."

Noah rolled his eyes. "Duh."

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.**


	2. Chapter 2

2. Not That I'm Complaining

"You're such a buzz-kill, CJ," Morgan groaned. "You zap the fun outta everything."

"I do not," I insisted.

"Do too, fun-zapper."

I rolled my eyes. "Look, I know everyone wants to have a big party for the Fourth, but we're all just too busy to organize anything. And remember what happened the last time we had a big Fourth of July bash?"

She sighed. "Peleus was killed and the Golden Fleece was stolen. I ain't forgot about that, but you gotta admit we all need a break. Your crazy trainin' schedule is killin' us. You're gonna have a mutiny on your hands if you don't cut us some slack and let us have a day of fun on the Fourth."

As much as it pained me to admit it, she was right. We did need a break. We'd been training six days a week for a month, and the campers were complaining about the long days. Some campers had even started to ditch training.

"Alright," I relented. "If you can get it all set up, I'll let the Fourth be a free day."

"Hell, yeah!" she exclaimed, pumped her fist, then punched me in the shoulder. "I'll tell everybody you ain't a asshat like they been sayin'."

"Who's been calling me an asshat?" I demanded.

"Just about everybody," she smirked then turned to walk away. "See ya later," she called back. "I got a party to plan."

The Fourth of July was a week away, so that gave Morgan plenty of time to organize a bash, and maybe it would keep her out of my hair for a few days.

Now that I was done dealing with our less than charming Oracle, I had to get to the firing range to teach a gun safety class to the youngsters. We had about twenty campers that weren't even teenagers yet, and I was stuck with training them today. Most of them were either new this summer or were on their second summer, and they were all pretty green when it came to training.

When I walked into the range, they were all covered in paint. They'd loaded the training pistols and had been shooting each other with paint-rounds. I buried my face in my hands. Ugh, it was going to be a long afternoon. Thank the gods tomorrow was my day off.

After my training session with the brats, I was walking toward the showers when Lexie came jogging up to me. "What happened to you?" she laughed when she saw I was covered in paint.

"Gun safety with the newbies," I groaned and looked down at my paint covered clothes. "They were slow learners."

She grinned. "I see that."

"What'd you do today?" I asked her.

"Taser training," she said. "I discovered my body can absorb the voltage when I'm tasered, and I can redirect it out of my fingertips. It's pretty cool—kinda tingly."

I blinked. "Really? Is that a Zeus thing?" I asked. She'd inherited a little of that Zeus electricity from her grandfather, but it wasn't much. Not near what her mother or uncle Jason possessed. "And someone tasered you?" I gaped when it hit me that she'd been electroshocked with a taser. Tasers weren't lethal, they just immobilized, but still.

"Calm down, CJ," she said. "Everybody gets tasered in the training. It teaches respect for the weapon."

"Oh," I nodded. "I thought I was gonna have to kick somebody's ass there for a minute."

"My knight in shining armor," she mocked me and pretended to swoon.

I rolled my eyes. "See if I ever try to defend your honor again."

She laughed then swatted my arm. "A birdie told me tomorrow's your day off."

"Who was the birdie?"

"Noah," she said. "It's my day off, too. You wanna hang out?"

My heart did a little pitter-patter. Heck, yeah, I wanted to hang out. We'd been so busy this summer that I hadn't gotten to spend much time with her. Maybe this would be my chance to tell her how I felt about her. "Yeah, that sounds great," I smiled. "What do you wanna do?"

She shrugged. "I was thinking we could spend the day at the beach."

The beach. That meant Lexie in a bikini. I was _so_ in. "The beach it is," I agreed.

"Awesome. I'll pack a cooler and swing by your cabin in the morning."

"Can't wait," I smiled.

After scrubbing away paint with pumice soap in a lukewarm shower, I headed to the Big House to read over the weekly progress reports the counselors were making for me. Every evening before dinner, I spent about an hour looking over reports. There were over twenty cabins and nearly a hundred and seventy campers, so it usually took all week to get through them.

According to the reports, training in the new weaponry and combat tactics was going well, but I already knew that. I'd watched training sessions and participated in war games, so I knew most campers were coming along nicely. My main concern was for the seven campers who hadn't made it to camp yet.

Two children of Hypnos, two children of Demeter, a son of Nemesis, a son of Aphrodite, and a daughter of Hephaestus—one I considered to be good friend, the one who forged my sword and shield—were all missing.

The counselors of their respective cabins were in charge of keeping in contact with the missing campers' parents, families, or guardians and the police departments where the missing persons reports were filed. Updates on the statuses of the searches were to be put into the weekly reports.

So far, the news wasn't good. They'd all been missing for more than two months, some as long as six months. The police believed them to be dead, and I heavy-heartedly agreed. Whether they'd been killed by monsters or the Rebellion was speculative, but I knew these guys, and they were capable fighters. They could handle monsters. I was uncertain if they could handle someone like Barka or Finn, though.

This was my fourth summer at camp, and over the last four years, fifteen campers had gone missing—most presumed dead. This was why I was training my people so vigorously this summer. It wasn't just about preparing for war; it was about enabling them to protect themselves from our enemies when they were outside the safety of camp. They'd been trained how to defend themselves against monsters. I was training them to defend themselves against the Rebellion. The training might not have been fun and campers may have been calling me an asshat, but I was ultimately saving their lives. I was doing my job.

It was like being a grown-up, but without grown-up perks like a paycheck, alcohol, and sex. I didn't want to be a grown-up; I'd be one soon enough. I wanted to be a kid while I still could, but the responsibilities I had now that I was camp's leader forced me to be the adult. And not just me, counselors and older campers had also taken on a lot of responsibility and were forced to grow up this summer.

When I complained about it, Chiron would laugh at me and say I'd always been a responsible and mature camper, even back when I first arrived at camp when I was fourteen. He said I was like my mom in that respect, and I certainly wasn't as reckless as my dad. This wasn't the first time he'd told me that I was more like my mother than my father. I think it just seemed like I was mature, because I wasn't hyperactive like the demigods who had ADHD. I came across as calm and collected compared to them, but I rarely felt calm or collected.

That night when I curled up in my bunk, I shoved away all the stress and thought about the day ahead that I'd be spending with Lexie. I thought about ways I could tell her I wanted us to be more than just friends. I remembered the kiss we shared on Christmas and the one we shared on spring break. I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

Lexie knocked on my cabin door at ten in the morning. Bless her heart; she let me sleep in. I knew she'd been up since dawn, but I wasn't a morning person like she was, and she knew it, so she let me get in a couple extra hours of shut-eye. I was grateful.

I threw on my board shorts and a tank top, slipped into a pair of flops, grabbed my sunglasses, a beach blanket and towel, then headed out the door. Lexie was waiting on my porch swing.

"Good morning, sunshine," she smiled up at me with that blinding bright smile of hers.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," I said. "I was asleep when you knocked."

"I figured you were," she said as she stood and grabbed the small cooler at her feet. "Ready to go?"

"Absolutely," I smiled then we made our way down to the beach.

A few campers had the same idea we did about spending the day at the beach. About twenty-five campers had the day off from training. Six of us were at the beach, and I figured more would show later in the day. The beach was a popular place at camp to kickback, relax, and have some fun.

Lexie and I found a spot on the beach, spread out the blanket, and grabbed a jumbo umbrella from the rack by the lounge chairs. Once we had our spot set up, Lexie took off her sleeveless button-down shirt and shimmied off her Daisy Duke cut-off jeans to reveal the blue and white bikini underneath. I was holding my breath as she stripped down to barely anything at all.

I'd seen her in a bikini before; all the girls at camp wore skimpy swimsuits, and I'm pretty sure it was to torture us guys. Lexie was all lean muscle and her skin was golden tanned, as always, but she'd grown since last summer. Her legs were longer—she was nearly my height now—and her…curves were curvier.

"CJ!" she said loudly to bring me out of my trance. "You're staring."

"Oh, sorry," I apologized and looked away. My face was probably bright red. "New swimsuit?" I asked.

"Yeah, you like it?"

Oh, did I ever like it. "Oh, yeah," I grinned and nodded.

She laughed and grabbed my hands, pulling me up off the blanket. "Come on, let's go for a swim to wash that drool off your chin."

We went out into the sound and splashed around for a while. We boogie boarded, played a game of beach volleyball with a few other campers, then combed the beach for seashells that she could make earrings out of.

We went back to our blanket to eat the sandwiches she'd packed in her cooler, have a cold drink, and sort through the seashells we'd collected. I'd noticed that several more campers had come to the beach, and oddly, everyone seemed to be coupled. Romance wasn't odd at camp; there were a few couples, but not _that_ many. It was kinda weird. I mentioned it to Lexie and she joked that maybe love was in the air.

After we ate, I lay down on my back under the shade of the umbrella, rested my head on my hands, and dozed off.

I woke when I felt Lexie brush up against me. I opened my eyes and was immediately wide awake. Boobs…in my face. Lexie was leaning across me, digging through the cooler.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"Getting a lemonade," she said. "You want one?"

"Uh…" I couldn't focus enough to respond to the simple question.

She looked down at me and asked, "Are you staring at my boobs?"

"They're kinda hard to miss with you leaning across me like that."

She laughed, grabbed two lemonades, and returned to her spot on the blanket. I rolled onto my left side and propped myself up on my elbow. She did the same, except on her right side so she was facing me and handed me a lemonade.

I stared at her as she sipped her lemonade, and when she noticed me looking at her, she asked, "What?"

I shrugged. "I was just thinking."

She quirked an eyebrow. "About?"

"Last Christmas."

"Oh," she nodded. "When you had to go to New Orleans to rescue me from the Rebellion. Thanks for that, by the way."

"I was actually thinking about Christmas night at the house." I touched the gold arrow charm hanging from her bead necklace. It was the one I gave her for Christmas. "It looks good on you," I said about the charm.

She smiled. "I like it."

I matched her smile. "I'm glad."

"That was a good night," she said. "Spending Christmas with you and your family."

I nodded. "Yeah, it was nice."

She gave me a sly smile. "That wasn't the only thing that was nice," she said as she leaned a little closer to me. "That kiss was pretty nice."

I hadn't expected her to bring that up, and my heart rate increased just thinking about that kiss. "It was very nice," I agreed.

She leaned in, closing the gap between us, and kissed me. I was surprised, but that didn't stop me from kissing her back. And this kiss was different from the last. This kiss was passionate and intense. She pressed her body right up against me, draped her leg over mine, and we were soon lost in a full-on make-out session. It was…curious.

Not that I'm complaining. I mean, the girl I'd been sweet on for three years couldn't keep her hands off me. It was awesome, but it was also strange at the same time. If it had been a soft, simple kiss and a little hand holding, I wouldn't have thought it was weird. Lexie was subtle and private when it came to showing affection, but this was far from subtle and very public. This wasn't like her at all. Something was up.


	3. Chapter 3

3. Something's Terribly Wrong With This Picture

I thoroughly enjoyed every second when Lexie and I were kissing, but when we finally came up for air, I stopped the whole thing in its tracks. Believe me, I didn't want to stop, but I had a gut feeling that something was off. Over the years, I'd learned to take those instincts seriously.

"Lexie, are you alright?" I asked as I tucked stray strands of her hair behind her ear.

"Never better," she breathed as she tried to move in for another kiss. It was tough, but I backed away from her advance. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"I don't know, but something's not right."

She looked a little embarrassed. "Did…did you not want…not like it?" she asked about the kiss.

"No. I mean, yeah, I liked it, but that's not what…" Ugh, I didn't want to hurt her feelings. How was I going to say this? "It's just…it isn't like you to come on so strong."

Her brow furrowed and she blinked a few times like she was confused. She sat up and took a drink of her lemonade. She looked shaken up.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "I'm a little light headed. I…I don't know what came over me, CJ. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

This conversation was uncomfortable, the kiss certainly wasn't. "Don't worry about it, Lexie. You've done far worse things to me than kiss me," I smiled.

She sighed and rested her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her, and we just sat there in silence. I kept wondering what the heck just happened, and as I looked around the beach, I became even more confused. Lexie and I weren't the only ones to get a little cozy today.

There were over a dozen campers at the beach now and everyone was paired with another camper. There was hand holding, cuddling, and couples sucking face everywhere I looked. The public displays of affection were rampant. This wasn't normal, and it was freaking me out. Plus, it was gross.

Lexie had joked about love being in the air, but I was beginning to wonder if something else was in the air. What the hell was going on?

I was about to tell Lexie what I'd noticed when she shifted her head on my shoulder. I shuddered as her lips began trailing kisses up my neck. "Lexie," I said, which came out as a high-pitched croak.

"Relax," she whispered in my ear, her hot breath making my blood pump fiercely.

"You probably shouldn't—" I was cut-off by her lips clamping onto my earlobe. _Oooh, shit_. I had to get out of there before things got out of control.

I pulled away from her, and she looked so disappointed. Hell, I was disappointed. Maybe just one more kiss…

_No!_

I jumped up off the blanket, and Lexie stared up at me, confused. "What is wrong with you?" she asked.

"Me?" I gaped. "What's wrong with you?" I waved my arm toward the rest of the campers on the beach. "What's wrong with everybody? Something isn't right, Lexie, and I gotta find out what."

I turned to leave, and Lexie called after me, "Where are you going?"

"Straight to Hades if I'm not careful," I muttered as I took off jogging away from the beach.

I wasn't sure where I needed to go or whom I needed to talk to about the weird scene down at the beach, so I headed toward the Big House. Maybe Chiron would be there, and I could ask him about it. That would be an awkward conversation.

As I jogged toward the Big House, I noticed most training sessions had been let out early and campers were heading to the showers or their cabins. Huh, I wonder why training was cut short today?

"CJ!" I heard Noah's voice call out behind me.

I stopped jogging and waited for him to catch up to me. "Hey, Noah," I said.

"Been at the beach?" he asked. I was barefoot and only wearing board shorts, so it was pretty obvious I'd just come from the beach.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Lexie and I have been down there all day."

He grinned widely and nudged me with his elbow. "So, did you do it?" he asked.

I blinked. "What? Did we do what? What have you heard?" I rambled in a bit of panic.

He took a step back and gave me a sideways look. "Uh, I just meant did you tell her how you feel about her?"

I let out the breath I'd been holding and rubbed the back of my neck, nervously. "Oh, uh, not exactly," I mumbled then quickly changed the subject. "Hey, why did training end early today?" I asked.

"Training has been pointless this afternoon," he groaned. "Everyone was distracted, no one was paying attention, even the trainers seemed like they were on another planet, so Chiron cancelled training for the rest of the day."

Hmm, so strangeness was camp-wide.

"Hey, CJ, can I get your opinion on something?" Noah said.

"Sure," I nodded.

"I'm going to ask Morgan on a date," he said. "Which do you think would be better: a picnic at the lake or the strawberry fields?"

Whoa. I knew Noah had a huge crush on Morgan, but I never thought he'd muster up the courage to ask her out. He was always afraid she wouldn't want to date him, because he was two years younger than her. Wait a second… "Noah, when did you decide to ask her on a date?"

"Today," he said. "I should've done it a long time ago. It just hit me today how much I love her."

My palm went straight to my forehead. Something was definitely wrong here at camp. "Lake," I answered his question about the picnic and turned to jog toward the Big House. "Good luck, Noah," I called back to him as I ran away.

Running away…it was becoming a trend.

I ran up the steps, across the Big House porch, and through the front door, heading toward Chiron's office. I slammed on the brakes when I reached the hallway and saw a disturbing sight. My bare feet slipped on the hardwood floor, and I crash-landed at Jason and Calypso's feet. They didn't even notice me. Jason had his wife pressed against the wall, and they were sharing a passionate kiss. _Eww!_ It was like walking in on my parents making out. It was _sooo_ wrong.

I scrambled to my feet and resumed my dash for Chiron's office. I rounded the corner and was about to burst into his office, but I stopped when I heard him talking to someone. I eased toward his open doorway, staying out of sight and listened.

"I really wish you would come see me," Chiron said, and it almost sounded like he was pouting.

"I'm clear across the country, my sweet," a female voice said, and from the static in the voice, I could tell she was in an Iris message. And did she just call him _my sweet_? The hell?

"You could be here in a couple of hours if you bend distance," Chiron pointed out. She must've been a centaur, too. "I miss you, love." _Love_? Oh, no, not him, too.

"I miss you, too," she sighed. "How long has it been since…you know?"

"Since our last roll in the—"

I slammed my hands over my ears before he finished that sentence and was off running from the madness again. This time I ran straight for the Aphrodite cabin, because something love, lust, or sex related had infected the camp.

I pounded on the door to cabin 10, and Cortney, a sultry daughter of Aphrodite, opened it. Cortney wasn't a counselor, but she was a senior camper and was well respected at camp.

"CJ," she blinked as she looked me up and down, making me uncomfortably aware that the only clothes on my body was my board shorts. "Something I can do for you, boss?" she asked in a seductive tone as she stepped out the door toward me.

I took a few steps back, nearly tripping all over myself. "Cort, we have a problem," I said urgently as I grabbed the porch rail to regain my balance.

I guess that wasn't what she wanted to hear, because the look on her face changed from flirtatious to annoyed. "What's the problem?" she asked, impatiently.

"Uh, I'm not exactly sure, but the entire camp seems to be…" I trailed off trying to think of a word to describe what I'd seen.

"Horny?" she finished for me. It was an adequate description.

"Yeah, that works," I nodded. "You've noticed?"

"I feel it," she said, giving me a sly grin. "Don't you?"

"Uh," I mumbled. "Not any more than usual."

"It's not affecting you, then." She sounded disappointed, but I was relieved. My hormones were crazy enough to begin with.

"What's not affecting me?" I asked.

"There's a spell over camp," she explained. "I felt it take hold a few hours ago."

"What kind of spell?" I asked.

"A love spell…kinda—more like a badly butchered lust spell. It's not one of ours, though."

"It's not a spell from this cabin?" I asked. "How do you know?"

She put her hands on her hips. "Because I know spells," she declared. "This one's crude and erratic, almost like it was a mistake. Aphrodite spells are elegant and precise. In my opinion, I'd say this spell was executed by an amateur, and they screwed it up."

"Well, no one else seems to be aware they're under a spell like you are."

"That's because they're _not _aware. Me and my most of my cabin mates are aware because we specialize in spells. The Hecate cabin is likely aware, too. I bet it was one of those Hecate punks that conjured the spell. It's trashy enough to be one of theirs."

"Can it be reversed?"

She waved a hand about dismissively. "Who knows? Maybe by the person who conjured it, but good luck finding out who it was. I don't think anyone would admit to such a dreadful execution."

"How about tracing it back to its origin?"

She shook her head. "It's too erratic."

"Damn. Well, any idea why I'm not affected?"

She rubbed her chin in thought. "It may be because you're mortal. Depending on its design, it could have absolutely no grip on mortals. You might try asking Morgan or any of the other mortal legacies if they're feeling the effects. If they aren't, then it's probably just half-bloods who are feeling the effects."

"Chiron's affected."

Cortney burst out laughing. "Oh, my gods, are you serious?"

I nodded. "Afraid so."

"Oh, how embarrassing…and hilarious," she snorted. "Poor centaur."

"Why him too?"

She shrugged. "He's a half-blood, too, if you think about it. He's Kronos's son."

She had a point. I sometimes forgot that Chiron was the son of a titan. "Makes sense."

"So," she breathed as she closed the gap between us. I couldn't step back any further without falling off the porch. She rested her hand on my chest and smiled. "Was there anything else you needed, boss?" she asked, so close that I could smell her mango bubblegum. "Or wanted?"

I felt a twinge of guilt as her soft hand trailed down my bare chest. I awkwardly pulled her hand from my body. "Uh, no. I'm good," I murmured then jumped the porch rail and took off across the commons area.

I noticed Morgan sitting on a stone bench by the hearth in the center of the courtyard, so I made my way toward her. She had her tablet in her hand, and I imagined she was planning the Fourth of July bash…which might not happen now.

I jogged up to her, and she had a slightly bewildered look on her face. "What's wrong?" I asked.

She looked up at me and said, "Noah just asked me to a picnic. A date, I think."

I grinned. My boy actually did it. Only took him four years.

"What's that look for?" she asked about my goofy smile.

"It's a date, for sure," I told her.

"He told you he was gonna ask me out?" she asked then rolled her eyes. "Of course, he did. Y'all are bffs."

I sat down beside her and asked, "Did you say yes?"

"Well, yeah. I shouldn't have, but he's just so damn cute. I couldn't refuse them puppy dog eyes."

"Wait, why shouldn't you have said yes? I thought you liked him."

"I do like him…a lot," she confirmed. "And that's why I shouldn't have agreed to go on a date with him."

I was confused by that reasoning. It made no sense to me. "I don't get it," I said.

She sighed, exasperated that the whole thing went right over my head. "CJ, I'm eighteen years old, which don't necessarily make me a grown woman, but it's damn close. And if Noah and I start datin', I'm gonna wanna do things…with him. Things I, as the _virgin _Oracle, can't do."

Ah, I understood now. And with her saying that, I immediately knew she wasn't under the spell. If she were under the influence, she wouldn't have _any_ hesitations about dating Noah. I nodded, "Gotcha."

"Did you want somethin', CJ?" she groaned. "Or did you just stop by to annoy me?"

"Camp's in trouble," I said.

She shook her head. "What the hell did you do now?"


	4. Chapter 4

4. Worse Than a Zombie Apocalypse

When I told Morgan about everything I'd encountered and the spell over camp, she laughed so hard I thought she was going to cry.

"Are you done?" I asked when she stopped laughing and bent over to catch her breath.

She looked up at me, panting with a wide grin on her face. "Maybe," she said, sucking in a breath, then she burst out laughing again.

"This is serious, Morgan," I declared. "It's not a laughing matter."

"Sorry," she snorted. "I can't help it. It's too damn funny."

"Lexie and Noah and the rest of camp going all lovesick crazy isn't funny."

"CJ, are you gay or does the idea of sex just scare you shitless?"

"Neither. But the idea of sex running rampant here at camp scares me shitless. Do you understand the consequences of something like this?"

Her smile abruptly faded. "Oh, hell. This ain't good, is it?"

I threw my hands up in exasperation. "Welcome to the conversation."

"What are we gonna do?" she asked. "What can we do?"

"Cortney said the person who cast the spell might be able to reverse it, so we need to find out who did this. You up for a little investigation work?"

"Uh, yeah," she nodded. "Finally, I get to do somethin' 'round here besides plan parties and channel the cryptic Oracle."

"Okay, let's start with the spell-makers: the Hecate and Aphrodite kids."

"I thought Cort told you it wasn't a Aphrodite spell."

"That's what she said, but I'm not sure I believe her."

"_Aw_, finally losin' that naivety, huh?" she grinned as she annoyingly pinched my cheek. "The baby's growin' up."

I swatted her hand away. "Alright," I groaned. "That's enough."

"You gonna hear me out 'bout the spy here at camp, now?" she asked.

Morgan had suspicions that there was a Rebellion spy here at Camp Half-Blood, and she'd spent the last two summers trying to convince me of it. I hadn't taken her seriously, because maybe I was naïve. I'd thought the idea of a Rebellion spy living among us was dubious at best, but the more I'd seen over the years—campers going missing, the Rebellion knowing our movements, their flawless intel—the more convinced I became that Morgan might've been onto something. Maybe there was an enemy spy in camp. Wouldn't be the first time.

"We'll talk about that later," I said. "Right now let's just focus on getting this spell reversed."

"Where do you wanna start? The Aphrodite cabin?"

"_Oh, gods, no_!" I gasped. After my awkward encounter with Cortney earlier, I didn't want to go anywhere near that cabin for a while. "Let's start with the Hecate cabin. Cort said it might be one of their spells."

After a quick trip to my cabin so I could change clothes, Morgan and I walked over to the small Hecate cabin. There were only five Hecate campers: four demigods and one legacy. The door was wide open, but I knocked on the doorframe to announce my presence anyway. It looked like the cabin was empty, so I called out, "Anybody home?"

A dark head peeked around a bunk. It was Trip. I breathed a sigh of relief that it was a dude I'd be talking to this time. Maybe it wouldn't be so awkward.

I met Trip Cooper, a son of Hecate, on my very first day at camp, and I'd come to consider him a friend. He was my age, almost a foot shorter than me, and every bit of twenty pounds lighter. He was a little bitty guy, but put a javelin in his hand and he could out-throw just about anyone at camp.

"Hi," he said to us…well, mainly Morgan. He was staring holes through the Oracle. "Morgan, you look lovely today." Did I mention he was a perfect southern gentleman, too? If it weren't for Noah's affections for Morgan, I'd have shipped a Trip/Morgan pairing.

Morgan smiled broadly at the compliment. She loved being the center of attention, and if she wasn't, she put herself there. "Why, thank you, Trip."

He stepped out from behind the racks and made his way over to us, smoothing his wrinkled clothes and patting down his slightly messy brown hair. "Is there something I can do for you?" he asked, and he wasn't asking me. His question was directed at Morgan.

"Oh, boy. Here we go," I mumbled under my breath. But at least it wasn't me that would be hit on this time.

"Well, Trip," Morgan began. "We kinda got a situation. We need to ask you a few questions."

"Ask me anything," he said, yet to even acknowledge my presence.

Morgan started the questioning. "Do you know there's a spell over camp?"

He nodded. "Yes, I know. And by the way, I really like your hair up like that," he flirted. "It shows off your neck beautifully."

I was biting my bottom lip to keep from laughing, and Morgan shot me a go-to-Hades look.

"Uh, thanks," she said to Trip. "Now, about this spell, is it a spell from this cabin?"

He nodded again. "Yes, it is. Wow, your eyes really are gorgeous," he flirted…again. "Such a pretty shade of green."

She blinked a few times, and I coughed to cover up the laugh that escaped my throat.

She didn't even bother to acknowledge his compliment this time. "Who cast the spell?" she continued.

"I don't know, sweetheart. It wasn't me," he said, looking not at her face, but staring slightly lower. "And I must say you have _very_ nice—"

"Trip!" Morgan shouted. His gaze jerked up in response. "You comment on my boobs, and I'm gonna kick your scrawny little ass," she threatened.

"Oh, honey," he pouted. "You wouldn't do that."

Her hands went to her hips. "Try me, _honey_," she challenged.

As funny as this exchange was, it was getting us nowhere, so I stepped in. I grabbed Trip's shoulder and turned him to face me. "Tell me what's going on with this spell."

He shrugged. "I don't really know. I felt it take effect around noon, and I recognize a Hecate signature on it, but it's all screwed up."

"You think?" Morgan groaned.

"Go on," I told Trip.

"It's a love spell, obviously, but it's all out of whack. It wasn't originally meant to be a love spell. None of my brothers or sisters would've ever butchered a spell so badly. We're incapable of it really."

"What about Cecily?" I asked. Cecily was a granddaughter of Hecate and one of the few legacies here at camp.

"Ces is good. Her powers rival that of half-bloods. I doubt she could mess up a spell so badly."

"You and Cortney have both said the spell is botched. Why do you think that?" I asked.

"It's hard to explain. I'm aware I'm under the spell, though I can't counter its effects on me," he elaborated. "With spells, I can feel their signature, their construction, and their intentions. This spell, though…it's uncomfortable. It's erratic and certainly cast by an amateur. How an amateur got their hands on a Hecate hate spell and messed up the execution so badly that it morphed into a love spell that borders on an Aphrodite lust spell, I don't know."

I blinked. "Wait, did you just say hate spell?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "The foundation is classic hate spell, but the conjuring must've been so bad that the desired effect was reversed."

That bit of information changed everything. I thought perhaps someone just messed up an isolated spell they'd intended to cast on their crush or something like that, and its effects were just more widespread than they were ever meant to be. Its foundation as a hate spell, though, made this a whole new ballgame. Someone was trying to turn us against each other, camper against camper.

"One more question. Can it be reversed?"

He shrugged. "I sure hope so, and it better be done soon. If it's not reversed in a few days, the effects will be permanent."

That wasn't at all what I wanted to hear. Things were just going from bad to worse.

"Thanks for your help, Trip," I said. "We may have more questions later."

"Sure," he nodded. "I'll be around."

"Come on, Morgan. We need to talk," I said and we turned to leave the Hecate cabin.

We took two steps, Morgan turned on her heel, and decked Trip square in the nose. He yelped and crumpled to the floor, clutching his bleeding nose. For her tiny frame, Morgan sure packed a punch.

"What did you do that for?" I gaped at her.

She was shaking the pain from her hand that landed the blow to Trip's nose. "The pervert grabbed my ass," she hissed.

"Oh. In that case, nice shot."

She smiled and chirped, "Thanks."

She skipped out the door, and I turned and knelt beside Trip. "Is it broken?" I asked about his nose.

He delicately touched the bridge of his nose, feeling for a break. "No, I don't think so."

"You'd better put some ice on it," I said as I stood. "And it might be a good idea to keep your hands to yourself next time."

"Tell Morgan I'm _so_ sorry. I would've never… It's the spell, you know."

I nodded. "I know. I'll tell her you're sorry."

I walked out of the Hecate cabin and found Morgan hadn't made it far. She was standing a few feet away, still as a statue. I stood beside her and looked out at the commons area to see what had her stopped in her tracks.

"It's worse than a zombie apocalypse," she whispered in horror, describing the scene before us.

She was right; zombies would've been the better alternative, because the scene was much the same as the one I'd witnessed at the beach earlier: fluff. Oh, gods, so much fluff. I wanted to gag, and I think Morgan did.

"And this is only the beginning," I added.

"We gotta make it stop." She tugged desperately at my shirtsleeve and begged, "CJ, make it stop. My eyes are burnin'."

"Well, _Oracle_, maybe you could give me a prophecy or quest or some kinda hint as to how I should go about stopping it."

She was silent for a moment and had her eyes closed tight. I hoped she was channeling the Oracle. She turned to me with non-glowing eyes. "Yeah, I got nothin'."

I sighed, exasperated. "Your uselessness is epic."

"And your leadership is an epic fail. If you woulda listened to me 'bout the enemy spy, then maybe we wouldn't be in this cluster-fuck of a situation."

"You think an enemy inside camp cast the spell?" I asked in surprise, because I had the same theory.

"CJ, I may talk slow, but I ain't stupid. Trip said the spell was originally meant to be a hate spell, which means somebody's tryin' to turn us against each other," she said then chuckled. "Seems somebody failed even more epically than you. You should be proud of yourself for not bein' the biggest blockhead at camp."

I rolled my eyes. "_Charmed_."

We gazed out upon the infected campers for another moment, and I caught a glimpse of Lexie wandering through the crowded courtyard. She looked like she was searching for someone. _Gulp._

Morgan pointed toward Lexie and giggled, "Your girlfriend's lookin' for ya."

I ducked behind Morgan for cover. Like her tiny body was going to hide me.

She laughed at my retreat behind her. "Seriously? You're hidin'?"

"She's under the spell," I said as I cowered behind her, trying to keep out of Lexie's sight.

Morgan shook her head. "You've had a hard-on for that girl for how many years now? And she finally makes a move and you turn chicken shit."

"I'm not chicken shit," I insisted. "It's just…she's not herself. Don't get me wrong, what happened between us at the beach—"

"Spare me the details, okay?" she interrupted.

"Fine. But it was great. Amazing even, but it wasn't her, not really. And I don't want things between me and Lexie to be like that—a farce."

Morgan thought on that for a moment then asked, "Do you think the spell is the only reason Noah asked me out?"

I shook my head. "No. It might have given him the boost he needed to build up his courage to do it, but he's been crazy about you from the moment he met you. Surely you've noticed."

"I ain't blind, CJ. I just…"

"You weren't sure, because he never acted on his feelings," I guessed.

She nodded. "Yeah."

"He had his reasons for holding back, you know?"

"And what are those?"

"Well, first of all, for that same reason you mentioned earlier: you're the Oracle. And secondly, you're older than him. I mean, you're off to college in the fall and he's still got two more years of high school. That concerns him."

"It shouldn't. I don't care 'bout that. Age is just a number."

"He thinks you might care about it," I said. "So you should clear that up with him."

"I will," she nodded. "Count on it."


	5. Chapter 5

5. Nightmares

Morgan and I were able to sneak away from the courtyard without Lexie ever seeing me, but we eventually had to take cover in the woods, because Noah was out roaming for Morgan.

"This is rigodsdamndiculous," Morgan complained about having to hide in the trees.

"Ri-gods-damn-diculous?" I enunciated. "Is that even a word?"

"It's three actually. Just think of it as alphabet soup."

I shook my head. "You are so weird."

"Why? 'Cause I ain't a fuddy-duddy, like you?"

"Stop calling me hateful names," I insisted.

"Aw, did I hurt the baby's feelins? You gonna fire me, boss man?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Don't tempt me."

"Okay, the coast is clear," she said, looking out of the bushes we were hiding in. "Let's go."

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"The Big House."

"That's pointless. Chiron's under the spell, too."

"We're not goin' to see Chiron. We're goin' to see somebody with a little more clout."

We finally made it to the Big House, but it looked deserted. We walked around for a bit before Morgan called out, "Mr. D! Yo, D! You here?"

Holy crap, I didn't realize we were coming here to see Mr. D, and I was more than a little stunned that Morgan had the brass to just holler out for him like he was a regular guy and not a god that could blast us to bits at will.

His voice boomed from the living room, "In here, Morgan!"

I blinked. "He called you by name. Your real name. He knows your name."

She looked at me like I'd just dropped from outer space. "What the hell are you ramblin' 'bout?"

"He never gets my name right. I didn't think he knew anyone's real name."

"Well, he knows mine. Now when we get in there, you just keep your trap shut and let me do the talkin'," she ordered.

We walked into the living room to find the wine god kicked back in a recliner, sipping a Diet Coke and thumbing through a Hot Rod magazine. He looked up from the magazine and said, "Morgan. Chris." Ugh, my name's not Chris! "Morgan, why are you running around with this loser?" he asked, nodding at me.

I opened my mouth to protest him calling me a loser and getting my name wrong for the hundredth time, but Morgan elbowed me to make sure I didn't say a word.

"It's not by choice, D," she said. "We've actually got a problem. A big problem."

Now it was my turn to stare at Morgan like she'd dropped from outer space. She'd just called the Greek god Dionysus _D_. Like they were friends or something.

"Mmm, yes," he exhaled. "The ecstasy, the debauchery, the madness…it's intoxicating, isn't it?"

"Don't tell me you did this," I blurted out before Morgan could stop me.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "I'm simply enjoying the effects of someone else's work. Just living vicariously through the chaos."

"D, you gotta do somethin'," Morgan pleaded. "Your camp's spinnin' outta control."

"Why should I? I don't owe you or Chris here any favors. Besides, spells aren't really my area of expertise, anyway."

"But you're supposed to be the director of camp, the leader," I said to the god.

"I thought you'd appointed yourself that position, Johnson."

Shit. He had me there.

"Ain't there anything you can do?" Morgan asked.

Mr. D shrugged. "Tell you what, I'll implement an early curfew, and I'll make sure there are extra Harpies on patrol at night to curb any _risqué_ behavior. How's that?"

She sighed. "I guess it'll have to do."

"Well," Mr. D said, getting himself out of his recliner. "It's almost time for dinner. Let's go bask in the chaos."

As we followed Dionysus to the dining pavilion, I leaned over and whispered to Morgan, "So, you and Mr. D are…friends?"

She shrugged. "We get along. He's a bit of a gambler, like me. We play cards for drachmas a couple times a week."

"Huh." I never would've imagined that, but okay.

Most campers had made it to the dining pavilion, but no one was sitting where they were supposed to be sitting. Everyone was mingling at other tables. With a few exceptions, the rule was you ate at the table of your cabin. I was an exception, as was Morgan.

Since my cabin mate Jade left camp to attend college, I'd inherited an empty cabin and dining table. Being the lone one in Cabin Three didn't bother me so much, but I hated eating alone, so I'd been eating at the Athena table. Seeing as how the goddess was my grandmother, it was allowed.

The same went for Morgan and her brother. They could eat at either the Hermes table or the Demeter table since both gods were their grandparents. Marcus bunked and always ate with the Hermes kids, but Morgan sometimes ate at the Demeter table when she needed a quiet meal instead of a food fight. Today she sat at the Demeter table, and I sat alone at the Poseidon table.

Mr. D wasted no time getting the scene under control. His voice rumbled and the smell of grapes filled the pavilion as he ordered everyone to their appointed tables. There were grumbles and sighs from the crowd, but everyone obeyed.

I filled my plate, but scraped most of the food into the offering fire and prayed to the gods that I could fix this mess here at camp. I picked at the rest of my food like a toddler who didn't want to eat his veggies. I didn't have an appetite. Every time I'd lift my glass to take a drink of the off-brand Dr. Pepper, I'd look over the rim of the glass toward the Apollo table.

Lexie would catch me looking and give me a smile. I wanted so badly to be able to talk to her, to explain what all was happening, and to ask her if that kiss we shared at the beach really meant anything to her. It certainly meant something to me. But I couldn't talk to her or reason with her, not with the state she was in. I was afraid that if I even tried, we'd get caught up in things besides talking, one thing would lead to another, and… Yeah, best to avoid her right now.

When everyone was finishing up their meal, Mr. D made the announcement: no campfire after dinner, curfew begins immediately after dinner, and extra Harpies on night patrol until further notice.

Another wave of groans, grumbles, and sighs filled the pavilion. Even Chiron gave Dionysus a sideways look. The centaur had no idea what was going on or that he himself was under a spell. There may have been protests about the curfew, but the god's word was final. After dinner, everyone sulked away to their cabins.

I was halfway to my cabin when someone grabbed my arm and turned me around. Lips pressed against mine, giving me a soft, sweet kiss.

When Lexie pulled her lips from mine, she smiled, "Good night, CJ."

She turned for her cabin and I mumbled, "Uh, good night." So smooth.

I tossed and turned in my bunk. The cries of Harpies and the panicked screams of campers echoed in the courtyard outside my cabin. It went on for about two hours before camp settled down and became quiet. I guess the campers finally realized they weren't going to be able to sneak out of their cabins for some late night lovin' without being attacked by a flock of angry bird-women.

When I finally fell asleep, I had a disturbing nightmare. Two campers were in the woods, sitting on a large boulder. I recognized the campers as Andy, a mortal legacy and grandson of Hermes, and Jessica, a daughter of Aphrodite.

Andy was still a young camper even though he'd been a year-rounder for six years. He came to camp when he was only seven years old. His mother—a single mother—had been killed by a monster, and he had lived here at camp since.

Jessica was young, too. This was her first summer at camp. She was a beautiful girl like all daughters of Aphrodite, and like some other children of the goddess of love, she didn't like the idea of battle and war. Don't get me wrong; she was a good shot with a rifle. I'd seen her hit bulls-eye after bulls-eye at the firing range. But, like me, she wasn't comfortable with the idea of taking a human life.

The two of them were talking, but I couldn't hear everything they were saying. I caught the words spell, powerful, blood, and sacrifice. Andy was doing most of the talking, and Jessica had a worried look on her face. She tried to get up off the boulder, but Andy grabbed her arm to stop her.

I tried to run to them, but I was frozen in place. I could only watch as Jessica struggled against Andy, and my heart stopped cold in my chest when he drew a hidden blade. Jessica had no time to react. Andy grabbed her chin from behind with one hand, lifting it upward, and with the other hand, sliced the blade through her throat in one fluid motion. It was a professional and practiced move, but not one he would've learned here at camp.

Jessica collapsed on the boulder, coughing, choking, and clutching her throat as blood gushed from the wound. It was the most gruesome thing I'd ever seen. It took only seconds for her to bleed out and die right there on that rock. Why had Andy just done that? Why had he killed an innocent girl in cold blood?

I got my answer when Andy began trailing his index finger through her spilled blood. He drew intricate designs on the blood-soaked stone. He had pulled a crumpled paper from his pocket and read from it. He chanted words that I couldn't hear, but I could guess he was conjuring the spell that had infected the camp.

Suddenly my ears popped, then I woke-up, bolt upright in my bed. My whole body was shaking and drenched in a cold sweat. "Zeus Almighty," I breathed as I ran my trembling fingers through my sweat soaked hair.

After downing a tall glass of water to calm my nerves, I quickly threw on a pair of jeans and a tee shirt and slipped into my sneakers. I stepped out of my cabin to see the sun was just beginning to rise. A few campers were up and around, but not many. I high-tailed it away from the cabins and into the woods. I needed to see if my dream was based in reality. I needed to find Jessica's body. But first, I needed the Oracle. Oh, wow, did I really just admit that?

I walked into Morgan's cave in the woods and called out to announce my presence, "Morgan, you decent?"

There was no answer.

"Morgan!" I called out again.

"Go away!" she groaned from her bedroom.

"Get your butt up. There's been a murder."

I heard her rustling around in her room, then she poked her head out of her bedroom doorway. She looked like crap. She had dark circles under her bloodshot eyes and her hair was sticking out in all directions. "You don't think I know that?" she grumbled.

"How?"

"The same way you do. I've been tossin' and turnin' half the night. The nightmares…" she trailed off. Because she was the Oracle, I knew she had vivid dreams and visions, and I'd bet her dream of the gruesome murder was even more intense than mine. She sighed. "Gimme a minute to get dressed."

Her idea of a minute was actually twenty. I guess it took her a while to get her thick brown curls under control and get her eye make-up applied. Morgan was actually very pretty. She had long curly hair, striking green eyes, and sharp features that gave her face a perfectly sculpted look. Too bad her personality ruined it all.

"Tell me what you saw," Morgan said when she walked out of her room.

"I saw your cousin Andy slit the new Aphrodite girl's throat," I recalled.

"For a blood sacrifice," she nodded. "Yeah, that's what I saw, too."

"For the spell," I guessed. "That's how it's so powerful."

"And that's why it's so screwed up. You don't use Aphrodite blood for a hate spell. Even I know that and I don't know shit about spells. No wonder it morphed from a hate spell to a love spell."

"So the blood was what botched the spell, reversing it?"

"That'd be my guess," she nodded. "So, what's our move, boss?"

"We need to find her body."

"Alright. Let's get goin'."

I led the way through the woods. I had a pretty good idea where the murder had taken place. I'd become familiar with the forest over the past few summers and was able to locate the site I'd seen in my dream fairly easily.

We stopped and stared when we reached the boulder. It was just as I'd seen in my dream, except for the insects and the smell. Flies buzzed all around and the smell of death and decaying flesh was becoming potent. She'd been there for nearly twenty-four hours and the temperature was near ninety degrees yesterday. Heat and insects can wreak havoc on a dead body.

Jessica's body lay stiff, ashen, and slightly swollen on the stone. Gallons of her blood had soaked into the limestone, turning it the color of red brick. Her eyes were open, a look of terror and shock fixed under a white glaze. Her slit throat lay open and exposed to nature. It was horrific.

"How could he do somethin' like this?" Morgan whispered in disbelief.

I gave her my solemn and certain answer, "He's with the Rebellion."


	6. Chapter 6

6. A Disturbing Game of Hide and Seek

I stepped closer to Jessica's lifeless body, but Morgan grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"Don't get too close," she warned me. "You'll contaminate the crime scene. Ain't you ever watched CSI?"

"It's not like the FBI is coming out here to investigate. This will be handled in-house, and besides, we already know what happened."

I walked toward the body and stepped on something hard. I knelt down to find I'd stepped on the murder weapon—a Ka-bar hunting knife with a leather-wrapped grip and an eight-inch long stainless steel blade, not celestial bronze. The knife was covered in dried blood, so I rolled it over with a stick instead of touching it with my bare hands.

The knife wasn't Camp Half-Blood standard issue, but many campers brought in weapons from outside. This knife was special, though. I recognized it. Jason Finn, Barka's right-hand man in the Rebellion and Jason Grace's _fallen from grace_ son, carried one just like it.

"This is a Rebellion knife," I said to Morgan who had wandered over to the boulder to examine the drawings in the blood or maybe just gawk at a dead body.

She turned to me and asked, "Are you sure? Andy's been a camper for a long time. What could drive him to turn against us?"

"He's perfect Rebellion recruitment material. He's mortal, and his mother was killed by a monster right in front of him. He's had it rough. It wouldn't take much of Barka's smooth-talk to get Andy to turn against us and become a Rebellion spy. I mean, really, what did the kid have to lose?"

She was silent for a moment then said, "CJ, I got a confession to make."

Those were scary words coming out of her mouth. "Let's hear it," I said.

"The Rebellion is the reason my brother is here this summer."

I blinked. "What?"

"They came after Marcus and Brad. They tried to take Brad away and kill Marcus after school one day."

I held up a hand. "Wait. Who's Brad?"

"Uncle Connor's boy. He's twelve like Marcus, but unlike my brother, Brad's mortal."

Ah. That wasn't surprising that the Rebellion had tried to snatch up a mortal legacy. Happened all the time. Happened to me more than once.

"I was supposed to be lookin' after 'em," she continued. "But when I got caught up talkin' to some friends, they got jumped behind the gym. The Rebellion guys threw Marcus a tough beatin', 'cause he wouldn't let 'em take Brad. Marcus barely got away alive, and if he hadn't used his powers, they probably woulda killed him."

"How'd they get away?" I asked.

"My brother stole one of their knives and shanked the bastard who was whoopin' him. That's why he's here. To be safe and to learn how to protect himself." She sighed. "If my cousin joined up with the people who tried to recruit my other cousin and kill my brother, I'll shank _his_ sorry ass."

Morgan was angry about what happened to her brother, and I could tell from her voice that she wanted some payback. I could also hear guilt in her voice. She must've felt like it was partially her fault for taking her eyes off her brother and cousin. I know I'd have felt that way. Time to change the subject.

"Come on," I said, waving her away from Jessica's body. "Let's go find Chiron and tell him about the murder. Maybe he can think clearly long enough to hear us out."

We came out of the woods near the stables. Morgan was a few steps ahead of me when we made it to the barn. She turned the corner then turned right back around nearly running into me.

She had her eyes covered with her hands and was repeating, "Brain-bleach, brain-bleach, brain-bleach. Oh, godsbedamned, I need a tanker-load of it."

"What is wrong with you?" I gaped.

I went to look around the corner of the barn, but she quickly grabbed me so I couldn't see whatever it was she saw.

"Trust me," she said. "You don't wanna see that, and I'll never be able to un-see it."

"Un-see what?"

"You don't wanna know."

"Yes, I do," I insisted.

"_No_, _you don't_."

"_Yes, I do._"

She put her hands on her hips. "Fine. It was Chiron mounted on his lady centaur friend gettin' busy makin' baby centaurs."

I'd never heard a more messed up sentence in all my life, and I had absolutely no response to it. It was like I was brain-dead. I just stood there looking at Morgan with my eyes as big as saucers and my mouth hanging open.

She smirked at my reaction. "Can't say I didn't warn you, but at least you didn't have to see it. I'll never be the same again. Totally scarred for life. I should sue."

I nodded. "Yes, you should."

"So, what do we do now? I really don't wanna interrupt…that."

"Uh," I muttered. It took a few seconds for the fog around my brain to clear enough to think. "Let's tell the Aphrodite campers what happened to their sister. They deserve to know. And they'll probably want to take care of the body themselves."

When we made it back into the heart of camp, I wasn't surprised to see that training sessions had been ditched by everyone, including the trainers. Half-bloods were scattered throughout camp and everyone was paired up with another camper or double-dating, just like yesterday. The spell was still going strong, if not getting worse.

We found Jax, the Aphrodite counselor, chatting up a son of Hephaestus near the basketball court. I'd seen those two hang out before and thought there might've been something between them even before the spell. Jax wasn't shy about his sexuality. He was openly gay, but Simon, the son of Hephaestus, wasn't. Maybe he was finally coming out of the closet. Good for him.

Jax, like Cortney and Trip, was aware he was under the love spell, but he couldn't counter the effects. But with his awareness of it, he was able to somewhat concentrate on what I was telling him, rather than swooning over his crush and ignoring me.

He was devastated to hear about what had happened to his sister. He'd been worried about her, because she never made it to her bunk last night, but he'd been too distracted by the spell he was under to go looking for her.

He assured me he and his cabin-mates would recover her body and organize a funeral service for her, as well as contact her father and deliver the bad news.

That was the toughest part of the job—breaking the news of the death of a loved one. And I knew this wouldn't be the last time it'd have to be done. In fact, I was fairly certain this was just the beginning.

"I gotta leave you for a while, CJ," Morgan said. "I gotta meet Noah for our picnic-date thing."

"You're still going on the date, even after all this?" I asked.

"Of course, I am. I wanna get a feel for just how this spell is affectin' him. Think of it as research."

"Yeah, if you call a hot date _research_."

"It's the best research there is. You should try it," she said as she pointed to our left. I looked and saw Lexie walking toward us. Morgan patted me on the shoulder. "Good luck, boss. I'll catch up with ya later."

"Hey, Lexie," I said when she reached me.

"Hey," she replied. "Where have you been? I've been looking for you."

I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. "I've been a little busy. There was an incident yesterday, a murder actually, and I found the body this morning."

"Oh, gods," she gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. "Who? What happened?"

I told her about my dream and about Morgan and me finding the body. The entire time I was talking, she had her hand clamped on my arm. I wasn't sure if it was because she was so stunned that there had been a murder inside camp or if like yesterday, she just couldn't keep her hands off me.

"What type of spell was the sacrifice for?" she asked.

"A hate spell, but the blood was all wrong for that type of spell. It manifested as a love spell instead."

"Well, who's affected?"

"Every half-blood at camp."

She stared at me for a moment. She shook her head. "No, that can't be right. I'm not affected."

I sighed. "Yeah, Lexie, you are."

She put her hands on her hips. "_No_, I'm not. Is this about yesterday?" she demanded. "About that kiss?"

See? No getting through to her. She was in complete denial. I needed to get away from her before this turned into a fight or a make-out session I wouldn't be able to pull myself away from.

"Lexie, I've got to go. I've got to find Andy."

"I'll go with you," she offered.

"No, this is something I have to do on my own. We'll talk later," I said and left her standing there alone.

I hated doing that. I hated this whole situation. It was making this thing with Lexie and me even more awkward than it already was, and it was ruining any chance I might've had at making her mine. It totally sucked.

I checked with a few Hermes kids, but none of them had seen Andy since yesterday. He didn't make it to his bunk last night. I asked all around camp if anyone had seen him, and those campers who could be bothered to pull their tongue out of the other's mouth, said they hadn't seen him.

I needed to get away from the disgusting public love-fest that was camp, so I went into the forest to look for Andy and remove myself from the madness. I'd been walking around for about an hour, and hadn't found Andy or any clue as to where he might be hiding.

I crested a small hill and was lost in thoughts of how I could fix things with Lexie when I heard a whimpering to my left. I went to investigate and to my horror, I found Morgan curled up and crying at the base of a large tree. A sleeve was torn from her tee shirt, her mascara was running down her face along with her tears, and her bottom lip was swollen and bloody. Her sobs were quiet. She was probably trying to stay hidden from her attacker. And I knew she'd been attacked. That was the only thing that would put her in this state. I just wondered how bad the attack had been.

"Morgan," I said softly. I didn't want to sneak up on her and scare her. "Morgan," I repeated as I slowly walked up to her.

She jerked her head toward me in panic, but she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was me. Morgan and I rarely got along, but she knew I wasn't under the spell, she knew she could trust me, and she knew I'd help her.

I knelt down beside her and asked, "Morgan, are you okay?"

She shook her head and tried to swallow down a sob. I wanted to comfort her, to let her know I was here and I'd protect her, but I was afraid to touch her. I didn't want her to perceive me as a threat.

"Gods, what happened to you?" I breathed.

She brushed back her wayward curls and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. She took a shaky breath and croaked, "He came after me, CJ."

My first thought made me nauseous, because I knew she and Noah were supposed to be having a romantic picnic. What if he'd lost control and went after her? No. No, he'd never do that. Not even under a spell. He respected and cared about her too much to hurt her.

And then there was that possibility that Andy had went after her. Maybe he found out we were looking into the murder.

"Who came after you?" I asked, hoping she wouldn't say it was Noah.

Her busted lip quivered. She hesitated telling me, but eventually she said, "Russ."

Russ? What the hell? "That son of a bitch!" I spat. It was no secret that Russ had a bit of a thing for Morgan, but she'd made it clear she wasn't interested. I was still surprised he'd attacked her, though. The spell he was under must've made him act on his feelings and act in a violent, son of Ares way. "Did he hurt you? I'll kill him!" I fumed. I was beyond furious.

"He was… He was forcin'…" She couldn't finish. She choked up and wept.

I felt like weeping myself. "Morgan, did he… Did he…" I wasn't sure how to ask her if she'd been violated.

She buried her face in my shoulder as she cried, getting her smeared make-up and the blood from her lip on my white tee shirt, but I didn't care. I wrapped my arms around her, making sure she knew she was safe now.

Morgan was tough, strong-willed, and a badass in her own right, but at that moment, she was falling apart. It was difficult to see her like that, to see her so vulnerable.

"He tried," she finally said once she got her sobbing under control. "He was goin' to, but I fought him. I almost couldn't hold him off anymore, but that's when Noah showed up for our date. He pulled Russ off me, and I ran. I just ran away as fast as I could."

I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Thank the gods Noah stopped him. "I'm so sorry, Morgan." I shook my head. "This is getting out of hand. Someone's going to get hurt and I mean seriously victimized."

She nodded. "I know, CJ. I almost was."

"Come on," I said as I helped her to her feet. Her legs were shaky, so I kept an arm around her and let her lean on me for support. "Let's get you someplace safe."

"I can't go back to my cave. I won't be safe there. Take me to Thalia's pine. Max'll keep me safe." Max was her giant pet Python that was cursed to be her protector.

"Why didn't he protect you from Russ?" I wondered.

"He's under orders to guard the Fleece no matter what. I thought I was safe inside camp. Guess not."

I guess not.


	7. Chapter 7

7. Camp's Gone To Hades

I helped Morgan to the top of Half-Blood Hill, and as we walked, her shaky legs began to steady and her tears began to dry up. She was able to walk on her own, but she held onto my arm anyway. I think it was more for a sense of security than to balance herself.

When we passed near the Big House, I noticed Lexie sitting on the porch steps. And she wasn't alone. Sitting very close beside her was a son of Demeter. They were chatting and laughing, and he had his hand resting on hers. I was clenching my teeth at the sight. It made me angry and flustered.

"Don't worry 'bout that," Morgan said when she noticed me frowning.

"I'm not worried," I lied.

"She's just tryin' to make you jealous."

"Well, it's working."

Morgan smiled for the first time since I found her crying in the woods. "You really are pathetic, you know that?"

I nodded. "I'm aware, since you insist on reminding me all the time."

We made it to the hill where Morgan's Python, Max, was coiled beneath the low-hanging branch of Thalia's pine, upon which the Golden Fleece lay glittering in the sun.

I started when the Python's head, which was about the size of my Jeep, rose and looked at us with its beady yellow eyes. Snakes creeped me out. Bad. I wouldn't say I had a great fear of them, but the sight of one made my skin crawl—especially one big enough to swallow me whole.

Morgan stepped toward Max, but I didn't follow. She turned to me and shook her head at my reluctance to get near the Python. "You're such a pansy, CJ."

"It's a phobia. Bedtime stories of Medusa will do that to a kid."

"My dad told me a bedtime story 'bout a prank he and Uncle Connor pulled once. I'll never ever wear a shirt from camp's store." She shivered like her skin was crawling. "Never."

Morgan turned back to Max, who was eyeing me like an angry, over-protective momma, and she gave him a loving scratch between his nostrils. His forked tongue gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek in return. It would've been cute if Max were a puppy and not a two-ton snake.

Max loosened his coils, and Morgan climbed on, cozying up to her protector.

"Is there anything else I can do?" I asked before I left her there.

"Will you find Marcus? Tell him to whip up a pain killer and a mild sedative."

"You're in pain?"

She rubbed her bruised wrists where Russ likely grabbed her to pin her down. "A little," she said. "Mostly just sore. And I gotta have somethin' to help me rest, 'cause—"

"I get it. I know," I said. She would probably spend the next several hours, if not days, reliving the attack in her mind. She'd need something to help her sleep. "Marcus can make medicine?" I asked.

"Yeah," she nodded. "He's pretty good with stuff like that. I can't take nectar or ambrosia, but Marcus's concoctions are better than Tylenol."

"I'll tell him and send him here with it."

"No!" she gasped. "No, don't. Bring it yourself and _do not_ tell him it's for me or tell him where I'm at or tell him what happened."

"Why not?"

"I don't want my little brother to see me like this," she said sheepishly. "I'm supposed to be tough and strong for him, but right now…I can't be that. Promise me, CJ."

I understood how she felt. This past winter, Barka tortured me until I was in a ball on the ground, begging for mercy while my friends were watching me fall apart. I felt so helpless and embarrassed and ashamed. I didn't want Morgan to go through that with her brother.

"Okay," I agreed. "I'll bring it, and I won't tell him. I promise."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, CJ. I owe ya one."

"You don't owe me anything. Just hang in there. I'll be back as soon as I can."

I went straight to the Hermes cabin. The kid was sitting on the broken-down, ratty sofa in the corner, and on his lap sat a daughter of Apollo who was probably four years his senior. They were in the middle of a steamy kiss, and Marcus had his hand under her tee shirt, quite far up I might add. If it hadn't been for the spell they were under, I'd have been impressed.

"Marcus!" I said loudly, which broke up the moment between them. "Get up. Let's go."

"I ain't goin' nowhere," he said, then turned his attention back to the girl.

I grabbed the girl by the arm and pulled her off his lap. "Out," I ordered as I shuffled her out the door.

I turned back to Marcus who was on his feet, looking royally pissed off. "Douche bag!" he spat.

"Hey, remember who you're talking to!" I spat right back.

"I was gettin' there with her, man," he pouted. "You ruined it."

I rolled my eyes at the twelve year old who thought he was a man. "You wouldn't have known what to do even if you had gotten there, so don't worry about it, kid. Right now, I need your help."

I half-walked half-dragged him to the infirmary, telling him what I needed cooked-up as we went.

"Who's the meds for?" he asked. "I know it ain't for you. You got the curse."

"Who it's for is none of your business."

"Yeah, it kinda is. I gotta know what ingredients I can use. I mean, does the person have any allergies? One wrong herb and the person could swell up like a balloon."

I hoped Morgan wasn't allergic to anything. "Just make it like you'd be making it for yourself," I suggested.

"That means no nectar or ambrosia. I can't handle that stuff. Makes me feel like my blood is boilin' and my flesh is meltin' off." Graphic.

"No nectar or ambrosia needed," I assured him.

"Okay. I'll just use the recipe I use for Mooch."

"Mooch?" I asked.

"Sis. I call her Mooch."

Mooch was Morgan's nickname? I was definitely saving that one up for later.

"Yeah, okay. How long will it take to make?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Not long. An hour maybe."

"I'll be back in an hour, then. And you'd better be here and have what I need when I get back or I'm going to hunt you down and kick your ass."

He held his hands up in surrender. "I hear ya. I hear ya. Jeez, what crawled up your butt today?"

Oh, if he only knew. "Just help me out here, will you?"

"Yeah, sure, I'll get it done," he complied.

I went to my cabin and locked the door behind me. I scoured the place for things I thought Morgan might need: a sleeping bag, snacks and a six-pack of Dr. Pepper from my stash, a flashlight. I even managed to find a crime novel (no doubt, packed into my duffel by my mom) to take to her. I didn't figure she'd be coming down off that hill any time soon.

Once I had everything gathered, I still had half an hour to kill before Marcus would be done making the medicines Morgan needed, so I collapsed on my bunk and had myself a pity party. Try being the only sane person in the bunch. It'll drive you _to_ insanity, and I was on the brink.

I was on my own. I had too much to do, too much to fix, and I was running out of time. Plus, I had no clue how to remedy the situation. Morgan was right. My leadership was an epic fail. There had been a murder, a camp-wide spell, and at least one attempted rape under my watch. I had no idea how to reverse the spell, I had no idea where the murderer had run off to, and I had no idea how to help Morgan cope with what she'd gone through. And on top of all that, any hope I had of Lexie and I becoming a couple was quickly going up in flames. Everything had gone to total shit.

If I could just get the spell reversed, maybe I could take care of the rest. But how? I needed help, but with the state camp was in, there was no help to be had. The more I thought about it, the more desperate the situation seemed and the more panicked I became.

I walked over to the fountain in the corner of my cabin to splash some cool water on my face and try to clear my head. I was staring into the pool of water, looking at my reflection when it hit me: call home.

I tossed a drachma into the rainbow created by the fountain and sunlight and asked the goddess Iris to connect me to the Percy Jackson residence. It took a minute, but Mom's image appeared in the fountain. She was sitting at her desk doing paperwork.

"Mom!" I said urgently to get her attention.

"Oh, hey, sweetie," she smiled, looking up from her paperwork.

"Is Dad around?" I asked. I didn't particularly want to have an awkward discussion about a love spell with my mother.

"No, he got called in to work," she said. Dad was one of the chief coordinators at the New York City Office of Emergency Management, and dammit, could I use OEM right now, because this situation at camp was an emergent disaster. "How's camp?" she added.

"It's gone to Hades!" I shouted. The mild hysteria in my voice surprised even me, then I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard pounding on my cabin door.

I'd locked the door, but I turned to look at it anyway. Lexie's voice rang from outside. "CJ, I know you're in there! Come on, baby, open up!" she pleaded. "You know you want to!" I guess she decided to give up on making me jealous and just make a move on me.

I turned back to the Iris message and saw Mom was bug-eyed. "Was that Lexie?" she gaped.

"Help me," I whimpered in desperation.

"What is going on, CJ?" she asked.

"They're under a spell. They're all under a love spell."

Mom burst out laughing, which had me seeing red. This was _not_ a laughing matter. It was _not_ funny at all.

I paced in frustration while Mom laughed it out. When Lexie beat on the door again, it startled the crap out of me…again.

"Oh, gods," Mom said, suddenly solemn. "You're not kidding."

"No, I'm not _kidding_! Do I look like I'm in a joking mood?" It came out a little harsh, but I had already lost all my patience and the majority of my sanity. "Everyone at camp, except a handful of us mortals, has been affected. The whole place has gone crazy, and I've got Lexie outside my cabin door, trying to beat it down so she can come in here and jump my bones! What do I do?"

"Well, first of all," she began, pointing a stern finger at me. "I'm too young to be a grandmother, so you'd better use protection." And oh, my gods, I wanted to die right then and there.

"_Mother_!" I gasped. "I don't need a sex talk! I'm not under the spell!"

"Son, you're seventeen years old. You don't have to be under the spell to need a sex talk." Fair enough.

"Touché," I conceded her point. "But right now I just need a way to reverse the spell, because, Mom, things are getting sketchy here. Dangerous even."

The look in her eyes told me she understood what I was talking about. She could guess that violations and victimizations were a potential consequence of such a spell. She tapped her chin for a moment, deep in thought. "I know someone who can help," she said finally. "He owes me a favor. I'll send him your way."

"Mom, please tell him, whoever he is, to hurry."

"I will, sweetie, but until then, you be smart and do the right thing."

I nodded in understanding. "Okay. Thanks, Mom."

Lexie was still banging on the door when the IM ended, so I tossed all the stuff I'd gathered for Morgan out the window and crawled through it myself. It wasn't a graceful landing on the ground, but I was able to sneak away and get back to the infirmary without being seen. Running from the girl I had such a huge crush on was getting real old real fast.


	8. Chapter 8

8. The Clothes Come Off

The smell nearly knocked me down when I walked into the infirmary. It was something between body odor and burning rubber. Marcus was working at a table in the back corner of the infirmary. The makeshift lab he'd set up looked more like a meth lab than a medical lab.

"Ugh, it smells like hot ass in here," I grimaced.

Marcus looked over his beaker. "It must be me. All the ladies think my ass is hot. Some of the guys, too."

He was just like his sister. I can't even… It was uncanny.

"You almost done cooking, hotshot?" I asked.

"Yep, just a few more minutes," he said as he stirred his concoction.

I took a seat across the table from him. "How'd you learn all this?" I asked, waving at the chemistry set.

"A little inherent skill and a little instruction from my parents. Mom's good with herbs and Dad, well, he's a kinda jack of all trades, master of none, but he's pretty good at the chemistry stuff."

"Speaking of your family, have you seen your cousin Andy around?"

He shook his head. "Not since yesterday. Why?"

"When you saw him yesterday, was he acting strange?"

"Dude, that guy's always actin' strange. He's creeped me out since the day I got here. The last few days he's been ramblin' on 'bout his ship comin' in. What the heck's this ship he's goin' on 'bout?"

"The Titanic from the looks of things," I mumbled. "Listen, if you see him, come find me. I need to have a word with him." I wanted to do more than have a word with Andy, but I didn't want to explain to Marcus about the murder and potentially put his life in danger.

"Alright," Marcus agreed then handed me two small liquid-filled glass vials with cork lids. "The clear's the pain killer, the blue's the sedative. There's two doses in each vial. One dose every six hours."

I took the bottles. "Thank you, Dr. Stoll."

"Dr. Stoll… That has a nice ring to it. _Dr. Stoll_," he mused.

I didn't have the heart to tell the kid he'd never be a doctor. A street pharmacist, maybe, but not a doctor.

I left Marcus there, reeling in his delusions of grandeur and headed out of the Big House. As I walked by the living room, I saw Mr. D kicked back in his recliner again. I walked straight up to him.

"Mr. D," I said.

"What do you want, Johnson?" he groaned.

"It's Jackson," I corrected him. "And I want you to find Russell Banks and lock him up until the spell over camp is reversed."

Dionysus frowned. "Who is Russell Banks?"

"A son of Ares. Six-foot, two hundred pound black guy. You can't miss him."

"Now why and where should I lock him up? It's not like there's a brig here at camp."

"I don't care where you put him, but I want him out of camp's population, right now," I barked. "Before he hurts someone else."

The god just stared at me, unimpressed with my newfound balls.

"He attacked Morgan," I explained. "Tried to rape her. If you care about Morgan at all, you'll do this for me, for her."

The smell of grapes filled the air, his eyes turned a dark shade of purple, and I think there was purple smoke coming out of his ears and nostrils. He was not a happy god. He stood from his recliner, but I held my ground. I didn't even take a step back.

"I'll take care of Boggs," he said, his voice seething with anger. "You go take care of Morgan."

The god walked out of the room without blasting me to bits for giving him orders. I figured I shouldn't press my luck by hanging around, so I took-off toward Half-Blood Hill.

Morgan was nested in Max's coils, and Max was on high alert. The giant snake whipped his head around quicker than a heartbeat when I crested the hill. In the blink of an eye, his nose was only inches from mine.

I won't lie; I wanted to run away screaming, and had my legs worked, I would've. But since my entire body had inconveniently frozen in place, all I could do was stare at the serpent while my heart tried to burst out of my chest—likely so it could run away screaming.

"Stand down, Max," I heard Morgan say.

The Python slowly backed off, but never took his angry eyes off me. I was still too paralyzed to move, even after he'd retreated. I was in a state of shock, I guess.

"CJ," Morgan called. "CJ!"

I finally turned to her, and she grinned. "Did you piss yourself?" she asked.

I looked down to see if I had. By some miracle I hadn't. I could hear Morgan snickering. I looked up at her and narrowed my eyes. "You did that on purpose. You sicced your snake on me."

"You shoulda seen the look on your face," she laughed. "Priceless." I was glad to see her sick sense of humor had returned, but unfortunately, it was at my expense. Story of my life.

I cautiously made my way over to her and gave her the sleeping bag and other stuff I'd gathered for her.

"What's all this?" she asked about the care package.

"Just a few things I thought you might need."

"Oh, thanks," she said. "Did you find Marcus?"

I handed her the two vials. "Blue is the sleep-aid, clear is the pain med."

"You didn't tell him it's for me or what happened, did you?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"You any closer to reversin' the spell or findin' Andy?" she asked.

"Reversing the spell, maybe. I talked to my mom, and she's going to send someone to help."

She blinked. "You called your mom?"

"Pathetic, I know."

"No, that's the smartest thing you've done yet. Who's she sendin'?"

I shrugged. "She didn't say. She just said he owed her a favor and he could help."

"Good," she nodded. "That's good."

"I handled Russ, by the way. You don't have to worry about him hurting you again or hurting someone else."

She breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe knowing that would give her peace of mind.

"Hey, CJ, will you check on Noah for me?" she asked. "I don't know what happened between him and Russ after I ran off. Will you make sure he's okay?"

I nodded. "I was actually just about to go do that. You need anything else before I go?"

"Nah, I think I got everything I need."

"Okay. I'll be back to check on you later."

I found Noah sitting at the Hermes table in the empty dining pavilion. Lunch had been served hours ago, which I missed, because I'd been so busy. I sat down across the picnic table from Noah. He had a plate of cheese fries in front of him and a glass of ice water pressed against his left cheek and eye.

"Hey, Noah," I greeted him.

"Hey," he returned. He slid the plate of fries across the table to me. "You want these?" he asked me. "I'm not hungry."

Noah not hungry? I didn't think that was even possible. However, I _was_ hungry, so I took the fries.

As I ate, I pointed a fry at him and asked, "Something wrong with your face?"

He removed the glass from his face. His eye was swollen and red, and he had a cut on his cheekbone. "I ran into Russ's fist with my face," he groaned. "Knocked me out cold."

"You saved her from something horrible," I said about him stopping Russ's attack on Morgan.

"You know about that?" he asked. "How?"

"She told me."

He abruptly stood up. "You've seen her? I've been looking all over for her. Is she okay? Did he hurt her? Where is she?" he rambled. I could tell he was really worried about her.

"She's fine—physically anyway. And she's someplace safe," I assured him.

"Where is she?" he demanded. "I want to see her."

"Sit down, Noah," I ordered.

He hesitated, but eventually sat back down. "You're not going to tell me where she is," he guessed.

"I'll tell you when she's ready for you to know. Right now, she's not ready to see anyone. Especially not anyone who's under the spell."

He pulled the glass from his face and sat it on the table while giving me a sideways look. "Spell? What are you talking about?"

Ah, that's right; I hadn't told Noah about the love spell. I explained everything that had happened over the past two days, and he had a skeptical look on his face as I told him about the spell.

"CJ, you can't seriously think I'm under a love spell. I mean, I think I'd know if I were under a spell."

Ugh, just like Lexie: complete denial.

"You've just gotta trust me on this, bro," I said.

He stared at me for a moment then took a breath. "Okay," he nodded. "Okay, I trust you."

He helped me finish off the cheese fries, after which I told him to go to the infirmary to get some ointment to put on the cut on his cheek and to stay out of trouble. As he headed to the Big House, I headed to my cabin for some peace and quiet.

I was about to walk around to the side window that I'd climbed out of earlier, when I noticed my cabin door was ajar. I'd locked it, so it shouldn't have been open. I didn't know who had broken into my cabin, so I reached into my jeans pocket and pulled out my pen. I transformed it into my sword as I eased up the porch steps. I raised my sword, pushed the door open, and stepped inside.

I don't know who I expected to see, but I didn't expect to see Lexie standing in my cabin. Though I probably should've. She had her hands on her hips, looking pretty annoyed that I was pointing a sword at her.

"Put that away," she said about my sword.

I did as she said. "Lexie, what are you doing in here? Did you break in?"

"Don't be silly. I had one of the Hermes kids pick the lock. I've been looking for you. I thought we might finish our date at the beach that you so rudely interrupted yesterday."

I couldn't help but smile at her persistence and her use of the word _date_, but then I frowned, remembering how she hadn't been so persistent earlier. "I saw you and Jasper holding hands on the Big House porch," I blurted out like a jealous boyfriend, which I had no right to do, because I wasn't her boyfriend.

"I know you saw that. I meant for you to see it. I had to do something to get your attention. You've been avoiding me for two days."

I sighed. "Listen, I'm sorry I've been dodging you, but I can't be around you right now."

"Why not? CJ, are you mad at me? Or is this about that spell you think I'm under?"

"You _are_ under a spell, Lexie. And you're not thinking clearly. That's why I can't be around you. I'm… I'm afraid we'll do something we'll regret."

"You're wrong. I finally _am_ thinking clearly," she insisted. "CJ, for years we've been dancing around this connection we have. I'll be honest with you; I've been scared. Scared that if we took things further, we might ruin what we have, but now I realize all we have is a holding pattern. We're friends, but we could be so much more. We've just gotta take that chance. You're worth it to me. Am I worth it to you?"

My heart leapt at her words, and I answered by crashing my lips into hers. I couldn't stop myself. My hormones finally overrode my brain. I kissed her, wrapped my arms around her, and pulled her body against mine. My heart was racing, my hands were trembling, and my blood was flowing. I didn't think; my body just took over.

My brain didn't register that I shouldn't have let her slide her hands up under my tee shirt and pull it over my head or that I shouldn't have pulled her tank top over hers or that she really didn't need to be unbuttoning my jeans as we fell onto my bunk.

She wasn't herself. I knew that. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that. But as her fingers tangled in my hair and my lips trailed down her neck to her chest, the guilt I felt was the last thing on my mind.

I was on top of her, kissing her and running my hand up her smooth skin from her waist to the point where I found the string of her bikini top. I was about to pull the string to untie her top when suddenly a light bulb flipped on in my brain. My mother's words echoed in my ears. _Be smart and do the right thing._

This wasn't smart or the right thing to do. Oh, it felt right. It felt _so_ right, but it wasn't. Had I let it go on, I'd have been no better than Russ. He'd used force to try to take advantage of Morgan. I would've been using the spell to take advantage of Lexie. I couldn't do that to her. She'd never forgive me, and I'd never forgive myself.

My heart was pounding, my entire body was shaking, and I was breathing like I'd been running a marathon when I pulled away from her and sat up in bed. "We can't do this," I panted.

"Yes, we can," she breathed as she tried to pull me back down on her.

"No, we can't," I said as I climbed out of bed and picked my shirt up off the floor. "You're under a spell. You may not think you are, but it's the truth. As much as I want this, as much as I want to be with you, I can't. Not like this." And I walked out the door.

I wanted to scream, pull my hair out, beat the hell out of something, and crawl into a hole to cry like a baby, but first I needed a bucket of ice to pour down the front of my jeans.


	9. Chapter 9

9. Gifts

I skipped dinner and went up to Half-Blood Hill to check on Morgan. Max hissed at me when I approached, but Morgan quickly calmed him down. She looked better. The swelling had gone down in her lip and it had scabbed where the skin was broken. She'd wiped the smeared make-up off her face and put her wild curls up in a ponytail.

She was munching on Doritos when I plopped down at the base of the tree and leaned my back against it.

She frowned at me. "You okay? What happened to you?"

"I'm fine," I lied.

"You look a little hot and bothered. Your hair's a mess and your shirt's on backwards."

Dammit, my shirt was backward. I was in such a rush to get away from Lexie that I must've put it on wrong. I spun it around so it was right.

Morgan gave me a sly grin. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you just poled—"

"Stop!" I barked at her. "Just stop!"

She blinked at my outburst and backed off. She could tell she'd hit a nerve. I felt bad for yelling at her, but I was not in the mood to deal with a wise ass.

I took a breath to calm down. "Can I have a bag of those chips?" I asked in a calmer tone.

She tossed me a bag of potato chips and a can of Dr. Pepper and asked, "You wanna talk about it?"

I shook my head. "No."

We sat in silence as we ate our chips. I didn't have much of an appetite, but eating kept me busy for a few minutes. It kept me from pounding my fists into the pine tree. I kept thinking about what happened between me and Lexie and the unpleasant consequences of it. We didn't go all the way—not even close—but I let things go further than I should've. I touched her in ways I never had before; I took advantage of the situation. How would she feel about what happened when the spell was reversed? Would she hate me for what we did while she was under the influence? Probably. I didn't want her to hate me, but I wouldn't blame her if she did, because I deserved it. Either way, I was sure she'd never give me a chance now, and I was fairly certain our friendship was over.

"CJ," Morgan said softly. "Are...are you cryin'?"

I touched my cheek with the back of my hand. It was damp. Tears were trickling down my cheeks and didn't even realize it. I guess I was more upset than I thought.

"You're not fine," she said. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," I told her as I wiped my face with the sleeve of my tee shirt.

"Did somebody else get hurt?" she asked, panic rising in her voice. "Is it Noah? Did Russ hurt him?"

"No. No, Noah's fine," I assured her. "Russ gave him a shiner on his eye, but he'll be fine."

"Oh, good," she said with relief. "Not about the eye, but that he's okay. I've been so worried about him."

"He's worried about you, too. I told him you were fine, but I didn't tell him where to find you. I didn't want your snake to eat him."

She rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't let Max eat him."

"You almost let him eat me," I pointed out.

"That's different," she grinned then tossed me a candy bar

I was halfway through the candy bar when Morgan said, "You saw Lexie, didn't you?"

"You spying on me with your Oracle-vision?"

"It don't take the Oracle to see what's goin' on. It's wrote all over your face. You lost her."

I closed my eyes and swallowed down the lump in my throat. Morgan saying it aloud made it more real somehow. The curse of Achilles prevented me from experiencing physical pain, but it did nothing for heartache, and the ache in my chest was burning like a hot ember.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Yeah," I sighed. "Me, too."

I didn't go back to my cabin. I sat under that pine and watched the sunset. Morgan had taken her sedative and had been asleep for hours. It was so quiet on the hill, and my mind wandered in the stillness. I tried to think of anything but Lexie, which wasn't easy.

I forced myself to think about Andy and the murder. I'd looked for him and asked around, but it seemed he'd disappeared. Not surprising, really. His spell was meant to be a hate spell, and had it worked properly, camp would've been a bloodbath. He got outta Dodge before the carnage began. He was long gone and likely holed up in a Rebellion camp somewhere.

And then there was the spell to think about. I sure hoped the help Mom was sending would be here soon. Trip had said that if the spell wasn't reversed in a few days, it would be permanent. It had already been two days. Time was quickly running out.

My thoughts eventually drifted back to Lexie. I wasted time on _what ifs_ and _what_ _could've beens_ until I thought I might lose my mind. I had to come to terms with the fact that life wasn't fair. It didn't owe anyone anything, least of all happiness. Heroes knew that all too well. There was no such thing as take-backs, do-overs, or second chances, and forgiveness and trust were reserved only for the few who earned it. I screwed up, and I'd have to live with it.

I fell asleep at some point and was startled awake by the sound of Morgan's screams. It was dark, but the moon lit up the hill enough for me to see that Morgan was still huddled in her Python's coils, but she was thrashing and screaming. She was having a nightmare.

Max looked bewildered and panicked by her screams. I guess he couldn't understand why she was screaming when she was in no real danger. I started toward her, but Max wasn't having that. He hissed at me and positioned his enormous head between Morgan and me, a warning to stay away from her.

"It's okay, Max. I'm not going to hurt her, I promise," I tried to assure him, though I don't know if he understood a word I was saying. I kept my tone as calm and reassuring as I could, so maybe he wouldn't eat me just for being there. "I just want to help. Will you let me help her?"

I guess he understood, because he backed off and let me climb up his coils to Morgan. She was still screaming and crying and flailing when I made it to her.

"Morgan," I called to wake her. It didn't work, so I grabbed her as gently as I could to stop her thrashing. "Morgan, you're having a nightmare. Wake up."

Her eyes shot open and were glowing bright green. The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air. She had kicked me away from her. I landed hard on the ground and rolled, coming to a stop when my head slammed into the pine tree. If I hadn't had the curse, I probably would've had a concussion.

"_Shit, shit, shit_," Morgan chided as she made her way down off Max and over to me. When she helped me sit up, I noticed her eyes were back to normal. "Sorry I kicked you, CJ. I was out of it."

"No worries. I'm fine," I said as I brushed dirt and pine needles out of my hair. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I think so. It was just a nightmare."

"An intense nightmare. Your eyes were glowing when you opened them."

She shrugged. "That happens sometimes when the dreams are real vivid."

"Were you dreaming about what happened to you yesterday?" I asked.

She plopped down beside me and sighed, "Yeah. I can't get it outta my head."

"Give it some time. It'll pass."

"I sure hope so. I hate feelin' like this. I hate bein' scared of my own shadow."

"You don't have to be afraid, Morgan. You're safe now."

"Then how come I don't feel safe?"

I didn't know what to tell her. I had no idea what she was going through, so I didn't know what to say to reassure her. It was pointless to tell her she'd be okay when I knew she wouldn't believe it.

She shook her head. "Listen to me, whinin' like a little bitch," she said, disgusted with herself. "I'm startin' to sound like you."

"I'm not a whiner," I defended myself.

"Yeah, you kinda are."

I was about to throw back an _am not_, but was distracted by Max's sudden alertness. His coils tightened and he hissed when he stared down the old farm road that led to camp. I stood and peeked around the snake to see what had him worked up.

"What is it?" Morgan asked, her voice trembling.

Whatever it was, it was getting closer. It looked like a man jogging down the road. I instinctively pulled my pen from my pocket, which freaked out Morgan even more. I'd just told her she was safe, and now potential danger was running our way. It kinda made me feel like a douche.

"It's fine, Morgan," I lied. "Just stay back behind Max."

And just as I said that, Max tucked his head in his coils and fell asleep. Some protector he was, sleeping on the job. I had no choice but to transform my pen into my sword and take on the approaching threat myself. I regretted not having my sidearm. A gun would've been nice to have in this situation.

I was still hidden behind Max as the jogger approached. When he was within a few yards of us, I stepped out into his line of sight.

"Stop right there!" I ordered, pointing my sword in his direction.

He abruptly stopped, and I was able to get a better look at him in the glow of my sword. He was a slim, middle-aged guy wearing running shorts, a Boston Marathon tee shirt, and had a messenger bag draped over his shoulder. He looked familiar to me, but I couldn't place him.

He held up his hands to show me he wasn't armed. "Easy, kid," he said. "Do you greet everyone with a sword?"

Morgan suddenly appeared by my side like she recognized his voice. She squinted her eyes at the jogger and said, "Dad?"

He gave her a sly smile. "Not quite, sweetheart."

She blinked. "Grandpa?"

"Lord Hermes?" I said with surprise.

He gave a slight bow. "At your service."

Morgan slowly walked up to her grandfather, and he smiled down at her. "Hello, Morgan," he said affectionately. "It's nice to finally meet you."

She threw her arms around the god she'd never met until now, giving him a big hug. He chuckled and returned the hug. Smiling like a proud grandfather, he gripped her shoulders and gave her a once-over. "Wow, you are so beautiful and so grown up," he beamed.

She blushed at the compliment then asked, "Why are you here, Grandpa? And what did you do to Max?"

He shrugged. "Eh, snakes can be annoying sometimes—like when they won't shut up or they try to eat me. I just laid down snake charm. Your Python will wake up in about an hour. And I'm here for two reasons: to check on you and to deliver a package to Chase. I heard about what's been happening here, and I got a message from Annabeth, calling in her favor."

"My mom sent you?" I asked. "You're the one who owes her a favor? You're the one who can help with the spell?"

"That's right," he nodded. "I've owed your mother a favor for a very long time. I was beginning to wonder if she'd forgotten about it. She's a good mother to be using it for you."

"She's the best," I agreed. "So you can reverse the spell?"

"First things first," Hermes said, turning his attention back to his granddaughter. "Are you okay? That jackass didn't hurt you?"

"I'm…I'm okay, I guess," she answered. "Just a few bruises."

The god dug into his messenger bag and pulled out a pill bottle. He gave Morgan a pill from the bottle. It looked like a vitamin.

"Aw, it's Minotaur-shaped," she said about the pill. "What is it, exactly?"

"My special multi-vitamin. Nine essential vitamins, minerals, and amino acids—everything you need to feel like yourself again. It'll cure whatever ails you."

She popped the vitamin into her mouth and chewed. I watched the bruises on her wrists disappear and her busted lip heal instantly. It was very cool.

"Oh, wow!" Morgan gasped. "I feel a hundred times better. Thank you."

"You're very welcome. I learned a long time ago that it's best to help out my children and grandchildren whenever they really need it."

"Like you helped Andy?" I asked a little harshly. "Your grandson who murdered a daughter of Aphrodite in cold blood."

He sighed. "I tried to help that boy. I made sure he got to Camp Half-Blood after his mother was killed. And when I realized he'd gotten involved with the Rebellion, I tried to talk to him, reason with him, but he wouldn't listen. He was so angry. He blamed me for his mother's death. He hates gods and demigods, and I couldn't convince him that what the Rebellion is doing is wrong. I tried to help him, I really did. There was nothing else I could do."

At least he tried, which was more than most gods would've done.

"Well, can you at least fix this mess he made?" I asked.

Hermes dug through his messenger bag and pulled out a liquid-filled green glass vial with a cork lid. "This is just like the multi-vitamin, except it's in a combustible liquid form. Toss the vial into the hearth fire in the commons area. Once it combusts, the contents will become airborne. It'll spread throughout camp, reversing the spell on everyone who's infected."

I took the vial. "That's it?"

He nodded. "Yep. Wait, I almost forgot," he said then dug into his bag again. He tossed me the small box he'd pulled from his bag. "A package from your mom."

Heat rose in my cheeks when I saw what it was she'd sent me. I wasn't surprised, because Mom's motto was be prepared for anything and everything, but I was _so_ embarrassed.

Morgan looked at the box and laughed, "Condoms? Really?"

I groaned, "It's not like I'll be using them."

"And if you do, it had better not be with one of my daughters or granddaughters," Hermes warned me.

_Soo_ awkward.

I nodded. "I understand, sir."

The god's cell phone began to ring. He sighed, checked it, then silenced it. "Well, I've got to be going. Business never sleeps."

Morgan hugged her grandfather again. "Don't be a stranger," she said to him.

He gave her a sad smile. "I wish I could say I'd keep in touch, but that would probably be a lie. But if you ever need anything, drop me a prayer and I'll do what I can."

Morgan nodded, understanding that her godly grandfather would never be a normal grandparent. I knew the feeling. I'd only encountered Poseidon and Athena a few times.

"Thanks for your help," I said to the god.

He gave me a nod. "No problem, kid."

He turned to jog away, but I called after him. "Lord Hermes!"

He stopped and turned around. I dug a drachma from my pocket and gave it to him. "Can you get a message to the Rebellion for me?" I asked.

He blinked in surprise at my request. "Uh, I suppose I can."

"Tell Barka no more games, no more covert tactics, no more tricks. Tell him if he wants a war, I'll give him one."

Hermes raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want me to tell him that?"

I was sure. Over the past four years, Barka had done nothing but stir up trouble. The Rebellion had killed Peleus, Echo, Jessica, and a number of other demigods and Hunters. Because of them, I'd barely escaped a burning building, been caught in a hurricane, sent back in time to fight in the Titan War, endured crippling physical pain, and watched my friends suffer. I was sick and tired of Barka's bullshit. Losing Lexie because of this stupid spell was the last straw. It was time to take out the Rebellion.

"Positive," I answered with certainty.

He shrugged. "Okay, I'll deliver the message, but you may come to regret this one."

Hermes jogged away, leaving Morgan and me alone on the hill with a groggy Python.

"Damn, CJ, did you just start a war?" Morgan asked me.

"The war's been going on for years," I said. "I intend to finish it."


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: To all you American readers: Happy Independence Day!**

10. Fireworks

Final Chapter

I'd been sitting on my cabin's porch swing for hours, looking out at the commons area, just watching my people come and go. By now, most had cleared out, making their way down to the beach for the Fourth of July bash. Looking out at the peace and quiet, it was hard to believe that only three days ago the place was the personification of a romance novel—and a bad one at that.

To avoid the wrath of the patroling Harpies, I waited until the morning after Hermes's visit to make my way to the hearth fire in the courtyard. Hestia was there maintaining the flames. I explained to her about Hermes's concoction, and she was more than happy to receive the vial into her fire as she would herself gain from the offering. She assured me she would bless camp with peace and tranquility to show her graditude.

I tossed the vial into the fire like Hermes told me to, and it worked just like he said it would. In less than three hours, every infected camper was no longer under the influence of the love spell. Hermes's multi-vitamin concoction truly was a miracle drug.

Camp was recovering from the love spell, and it was an awkward recovery for most. But for some, the spell had been a blessing in the form of new relationships. For me, it was a personal tragedy. I failed to prevent a murder, I failed to find the murderer and bring him to justice, I lost control of my people, I lost Lexie, and I likely started an all-out war with the Rebellion. The only thing I managed to do was reverse the spell, and if my mom hadn't helped me out with that, it would've been another failure to add to the list. I really sucked at the leadership gig.

I was so busy wallowing in self-pity that I didn't even notice Noah standing on my porch. "CJ? Hello?" he said, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, hey, bro," I said and made room for him on the swing. "Take a load off."

He sat down and asked, "You alright?" I must've looked as depressed as I felt.

I shrugged. "Not really, but I will be. Eventually. Maybe."

"I've been meaning to come by, but Morgan's had me busy helping her organize the party."

"You two together now?"

"We talked and admitted we really liked each other, but after everything that's happened, we decided it'd be best to take it slow," he explained. "So I guess you could say we're working on it. She's still coping with what Russ tried to do to her. Hell, I'm still freaked out about it."

"She's lucky you were there to stop him."

"I almost killed him, CJ," Noah said, shaking his head. "I was so full of rage at the sight of him on her like that. Being a tough son of Ares is the only thing that saved his life. If he hadn't clocked me, I'd have beat him to death."

I knew how Noah felt. I'd wanted to beat Russ to death on occasion; it was that Ares-vibe that wafted off him and brought out the worst in those near him. I don't see how Lexie dated him for two years without ripping him to pieces.

And speaking of ripping him to pieces, I was surprised Dionysus hadn't. The god was irate about what Russ had done to Morgan, but he somehow refrained from blasting him to bits. Russ was back from lockup now, and he'd sincerely apologized to Morgan and Noah for what he'd done when he was under the spell. Forgiveness would take time, although, in all likelihood, it would never happen.

I nudged Noah with my elbow. "That's a nice black eye you got there," I grinned. It was a dandy for sure: black, blue, and purple.

"Small price to pay."

"Well, I'm happy for you, bro. For you and Morgan, both. It's about time."

He raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think you liked Morgan."

I shrugged. "Eh, she's growing on me."

"Glad to hear it. So, what's up with you and Lexie?"

He just had to mention Lexie. "I screwed it up, man," I told him. "I blew it."

"Oh, come on. It can't be that bad, can it?"

"It's worse," I assured him. "I did something stupid when she was under the spell. I went too far."

"Too far?" he asked then blinked. "Wait a second. Did you two…hook-up?"

"Almost."

"Whoa. Have you talked to her?"

I shook my head. "Not a word since the spell was reversed. She won't even look at me."

"Damn, man," he sighed. "I'm sorry to hear that. I really thought you two would end up together."

"I guess it just wasn't meant to be."

"Eh, give her some time. Maybe she'll come around."

I shrugged. "Maybe," I said, but I didn't really believe it.

"So, what's the word around camp?" he asked, mercifully changing the subject. "Everybody recovering okay?"

"According to the counselors' reports, most are fine, just embarrassed. Some didn't make out so well. There were two other attempted rapes and a few pregnancy scares."

"Holy crap, man," Noah gaped. "I didn't realize it got that outta control."

"A hundred and seventy teenagers under a love spell… I'm surprised it wasn't worse. Thank the gods most have a good head on their shoulders—mine not included."

"Cut yourself some slack, CJ. You saved camp. You're a hero." He was trying to make me feel better. It wasn't working.

Morgan's voice rang out. "A hero? Y'all talkin' 'bout me?" she asked, giving Noah a wink as she stepped onto the porch.

"Hey, Mooch. How you doing?" I asked her.

"Gettin' better everyday. And don't you ever call me Mooch again." It was meant to be a threat, but she was smiling, so I didn't really feel threatened. "Noah, you ready to go?" she asked him.

"Yeah," he answered as he stood up from the swing. He turned to me. "You coming to the party?"

"Yeah, I'll be down there in a bit."

"Okay," he nodded then clapped me on the back. "Don't be so hard on yourself, bro. You may not think it, but you did good."

"Thanks, Noah."

I watched as he and Morgan walked hand-in-hand down to the beach. It was nice to finally see them like that, but I felt a twinge of jealousy, too. They had each other, and I had no one. I guess it was true that misery loved company.

I wasn't really in a party mood, but I had to make an appearance at the Fourth of July bash. I sat on the swing and sulked for a few more minutes before going into my cabin to grab my sunglasses and a beach towel.

I stepped out of my cabin, closing the door behind me, and found Lexie walking up the porch steps. I was stunned to see her. We hadn't spoken and had been dodging one another since the spell was reversed. I figured she hated me for everything I let happen between us.

"Hey," she said sheepishly.

"Hey," I replied, not looking directly at her.

"You've been avoiding me," she said.

I shrugged. "Maybe, but you've been avoiding me, too."

"Yeah," she sighed, looking down at her feet to avoid eye contact. "I suppose I have."

It was silent between us for a moment, and it was that awkward, uncomfortable silence. This was the first time I'd felt truly uncomfortable around her, and I didn't like it.

"I um," she said, finally breaking the silence. "I want to apologize for my behavior when…you know…"

"It wasn't your fault, Lexie. You were under a spell. I'm the one who should be apologizing."

Her brow furrowed. "For what?" she asked.

"I let things go way too far between us."

She shook her head. "No, you stopped. You could've easily taken advantage of the situation, but you didn't."

I shrugged. "I had to do the right thing."

"You're an honorable guy, CJ. Do you know how rare that is?"

"You wouldn't think I was so honorable if you knew how hard it was for me to deny you. I mean, you made it _so_ tempting."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, it couldn't have been _that_ tempting."

"You wanting me like that… It was that tempting."

"Why?"

And here it was. That perfect time I'd been waiting for. This was the moment of truth, the moment to tell her how I felt about her. What did I have to lose? "Why not, Lexie? You're smart, brave, and funny, you're absolutely gorgeous, and I—I'm so in love with you."

I said it. I meant it. I had no regrets.

"You love me?" she asked, making sure she heard me right.

"Yeah," I nodded. "I have for a while." More like a very long while. I was pretty sure I'd loved her since I was eight years old, from the moment I first saw that skinny little brunette with baby blue eyes and pigtails. She was the only girl who'd ever broken my heart. She broke it when she left me all those years ago when she moved away, and now I was at her mercy again.

She reached out and lightly touched my forearm. "CJ, I'm sorry, but I…I've decided to join the Hunt."

Knife in the heart. "You…you did?"

A grin spread across her lips, and she couldn't hold in a giggle. "No."

She really did love to torture me. "_You're Hades_," I grumbled.

She laughed and took my cheeks in her hands. Her blazing blue eyes stared into mine. "I'm in love with you, too," she smiled. "Have been for a while."

My heart melted. I'd wanted to hear those words from her for so long and here we were, finally admitting our true feelings for each other. I'd thought I lost her, and I'd never been so happy to be wrong. I was ridiculously happy, and I'm sure my goofy grin showed it.

I wrapped my arms around her, and she laced her fingers around the nape of my neck. I was finally holding what I'd been hoping and praying for. I can't even explain how I felt at that moment.

"Well," I smiled. "Are you gonna kiss me or not?"

She kissed me without hesitation, and I kissed her back. The sweet kiss filled my heart with countless emotions: happiness, love, devotion, yearning. This kiss was real. This was the end of us being just friends and the beginning of something more.

Our sweet kiss soon became passionate, and when we bumped into my porch swing after losing ourselves in the intimate kiss, we laughed about getting a little carried away. We looked around to make sure no one had witnessed our little scene, and no one had. No one was around. The courtyard was empty; everyone was at the beach for the Fourth of July party.

Lexie gave me a warm smile and took my hand in hers. I thought she was going to lead me to the party, but instead, she led me into my cabin. And as she locked the door behind us, I silently thanked my mom for the package she'd sent with Hermes.

**AN: I want to thank all of the readers and reviewers for taking the time to read **_**Under the Influence**_** and for all the wonderful reviews. I truly appreciate every single one of you. I hope everyone enjoyed reading this fifth installment of **_**Heroes and Legacies **_**as much as I enjoyed writing it****, and I hope to see everyone back for the sixth and final book. I've just now started writing **_**H&L 6, **_**because as this series has evolved, I've had to make several changes to the outline, which put me behind, but hopefully the first chapter of **_**Heroes and Legacies Book 6: The Endgame **_**will be published in about a month. In the meantime, be sure to check out my other fics like **_**The In-Between**_**, which is a companion piece to **_**Heroes and Legacies**_** and **_**The First Legion Series**_**.**** Again, thanks for reading and for all the support. -dmac**


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